Forgive our foolish ways!

Today the Women-Bishops Measure was narrowly defeated at the Church of England's General Synod. Having gained the required two thirds majority in the House of Bishops and also in the House of Clergy, it failed by a mere half dozen votes in the House of Laity. So near and yet so far. We can but hope that perhaps not all the hard work and dialogue which went into creating what we trusted was a workable Measure, has been altogether wasted. However we are not optimistic. Today is a sad day for the Church of England. It will be at least five years before the issue can tested again and may well be much longer. Twenty years ago the General Synod took the brave and sensible step of passing a Measure which allowed women to be ordained priest. Now a third of the church's active clergy are women and many of them are amongst its most gifted servants. More than a few rightly occupy significant leadership positions as Archdeacons and Cathedral Deans, a number which is likely to increase if anything. It is therefore a sad irony that the Episcopate should continue to barred to them. We do not doubt that some self-appointed traditionalists will quietly rejoice at the defeat of this Measure. However their victory will be a hollow one as the issue of women bishops won't quietly go away. If anything the defeat of this Measure will cast a long shadow and may well haunt the church for years to come. Maybe the time has come for issues as important as this to not be decided by the General Synod but by ballot of Electoral Roll members. At least then we could perhaps prevent the will of the majority being thwarted by the demands of a minority which, though extremely vocal, is numerically tiny.

Comments

It may be a long haul. You are getting a conservative Canterbury and an increasing number of conservative members from African and Asian countries (as is the case for Roman Catholicism).
 
I think Joll raises some important points. Common sense and experience from the world around us would suggest there is no difference in roles and so let's put it to a vote. Whereas the bible would suggest there is a difference in roles, from the limited knoweldge I have. So should the Church of England be guided by society or the bible?

But there again, from the limited understanding of the bible I have, leadership is seen and exercised within the local church rather than through denominational structures. So it could be argued that Bishops are part of a secular management structure outside of biblical leadership in the local church, unless of course these Bishops claim to have the authority of the apostles.

But one thing is clear, there has been a lot of hurt and pain on both sides and so let's hope all can move forward acknowledging this and going about things in a better way.
 

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