The debate and vote on Women Bishops could end with either the debate being adjourned which is what a number of Women Bishop supporters want as they don’t like the additional clause added by the Bishops or it could fail to reach the necessary two thirds majority in all three house (Bishops, Clergy and Laity). If it fails the earliest it can come back is 2015. However if the debate is just adjourned it will come back in a special session in November when a final decision could then be made. However this could depend on the Bishops withdrawing the clause which has caused some women such problems. The argument is that the additional clause makes consecrated women second class bishops. In fact, it does nothing of the sort; it provides a bare minimum of protection for those opposed to women bishops on theological grounds – just a bare minimum!
If the debate is adjourned It is just possible, that the Bishops will have the courage to stick to their decision but I will not be holding my breath.
However it seems to me that those women who see their future as bishops want to rid themselves of any sort of opposition and want the opposition to leave. As The Revd. Rose Hudson-Wilkin said recently: “The Church is desperately trying to hold everybody together, and we haven’t understood that this is not going to be possible. To try to do that is to put on a sticking plaster that is going to curl at the edge and fall apart. It cannot be sustainable. The whole thing is a mess. We need to say, as a Church, 'We ordain men and women.’ Full stop. All the way to the top. For those who feel that they can’t live with it? They’re adults. By all means, go to Rome. Join the Ordinariate. Don’t stay and make demands of the Church. It’s wrong.”
What she, and others like her fail to understand is that those of us called traditionalists are endeavouring to maintain the apostolic faith which has been maintained by the church since its inception by Our Lord.
But of course the Church does maintain the apostolic faith. The Church of England is not that church since it turned its back on Rome. It has consistently ignored the pleas by the Orthodox and Catholic Churches not to go ahead with the changes. I fear that the Church of England and the Anglican Communion have been creeping (probably rushing headlong!) towards Protestantism for a fair while and I do not see it stopping. If the vote is postponed then surely it can only get worse for you Will you close up shop and become even more congregational? It needs leadership and where is that coming form?
ReplyDeleteThe weird sisters, hand in hand,
ReplyDeletePosters of the sea and land,
Thus do go about, about;
Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine
And thrice again, to make up nine.
Well the lack of a decision will I suspect mean that the so called concessions you are offered will be watered down from the miserable ones now being passed back. The bishops lack any backbone and are scared of the ladies. They preside over a declining church hoping that the initiatives will result in an increase in numbers. But that did not happen after 1992 and as in the USA the appointment of women to the episcopate will see further decline. It's not the church Our Lord founded and any pretence should now be abandoned. It's hard to say but it is over isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid she's right. Not morally or theologically right -- just an accurate indication of how things will shake out. Ask any traditional believer in America's Episcopal Church who believed there would be a future how that worked out for them. The revisionists are determined, ruthless, organized, and have the backing of society at large and of Parliament in particular. The game is up.
ReplyDelete