The Church of England could name its first female bishop by
Christmas, its most senior bureaucrat has said – a move that would end
nearly 20 years of wrangling since the church decided in 1993 that women
could be made priests but must not be promoted to bishops.William
Fittall, secretary general of the church's governing body, the General
Synod, said that if the synod voted as expected at its next meeting,
next month, the arrangements to promote women could become law in
November after being approved by the dioceses and then by parliament.
The committee that chooses bishops has a meeting scheduled for December. If the legislation has been approved by then the committee is almost certain to choose a female candidate for one of the six posts currently free.
Christina Rees, one of the synod's most prominent campaigners for female clergy, said of next month's vote: "I think it will sail through. I expect the first woman bishop to be named and appointed before Christmas."
Among the candidates most frequently mentioned are two women who have already been promoted as far as the law currently allows – Vivienne Faull, the dean of York, and June Osborne, the dean of Salisbury.
In London Lucy Winkett, a former canon of St Paul's Cathedral who now runs St James's, Piccadilly, Rose Hudson-Wilkin, a chaplain to the House of Commons, and Rachel Treweek, the archdeacon of Hackney, are frequent subjects of speculation.
Faull is the least controversial candidate. Osborne produced a report friendly to gay clergy 20 years ago that frightened conservatives, and Winkett has been accused of antisemitism after an art installation at her church represented the Israeli separation wall around Bethlehem.
But the long delay between allowing women to be priests and allowing them to be bishops means there are plausible candidates all around the church.
Opponents of female bishops scored a victory in November 2012 when legislation narrowly failed to gain a two-thirds majority among lay representatives at the synod. Since then the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has worked hard to force new legislation through much faster than anyone had thought possible.
Most of the opposition comes from conservative evangelical groups who are opposed because they believe the Bible forbids women to be leaders in church. But this stance is rejected by an overwhelming majority in the rest of the church, and the strength of the backlash appears to have shaken the conservatives' resistance.
Several leaders have indicated that they ey will vote for the revised legislation, at least in part so that they can move on to arguing about gay clergy and the blessing of gay marriage in church.
The synod will also hear a presentation on a report about gay marriage, but this has been scheduled to minimise the possibility of debate. Conservatives are threatening a schism over the issue, although they may be damaged by their alliance with churches in Nigeria and Uganda, which have recently backed laws threatening gay activists with prison sentences of up to seven years for speaking in favour of legalising homosexuality.
One prominent conservative synod member, Andrea Minchiello Williams, recently urged Jamaican Christians to stress the link between homosexuality and paedophilia as part of a campaign against gay people there.
The committee that chooses bishops has a meeting scheduled for December. If the legislation has been approved by then the committee is almost certain to choose a female candidate for one of the six posts currently free.
Christina Rees, one of the synod's most prominent campaigners for female clergy, said of next month's vote: "I think it will sail through. I expect the first woman bishop to be named and appointed before Christmas."
Among the candidates most frequently mentioned are two women who have already been promoted as far as the law currently allows – Vivienne Faull, the dean of York, and June Osborne, the dean of Salisbury.
In London Lucy Winkett, a former canon of St Paul's Cathedral who now runs St James's, Piccadilly, Rose Hudson-Wilkin, a chaplain to the House of Commons, and Rachel Treweek, the archdeacon of Hackney, are frequent subjects of speculation.
Faull is the least controversial candidate. Osborne produced a report friendly to gay clergy 20 years ago that frightened conservatives, and Winkett has been accused of antisemitism after an art installation at her church represented the Israeli separation wall around Bethlehem.
But the long delay between allowing women to be priests and allowing them to be bishops means there are plausible candidates all around the church.
Opponents of female bishops scored a victory in November 2012 when legislation narrowly failed to gain a two-thirds majority among lay representatives at the synod. Since then the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has worked hard to force new legislation through much faster than anyone had thought possible.
Most of the opposition comes from conservative evangelical groups who are opposed because they believe the Bible forbids women to be leaders in church. But this stance is rejected by an overwhelming majority in the rest of the church, and the strength of the backlash appears to have shaken the conservatives' resistance.
Several leaders have indicated that they ey will vote for the revised legislation, at least in part so that they can move on to arguing about gay clergy and the blessing of gay marriage in church.
The synod will also hear a presentation on a report about gay marriage, but this has been scheduled to minimise the possibility of debate. Conservatives are threatening a schism over the issue, although they may be damaged by their alliance with churches in Nigeria and Uganda, which have recently backed laws threatening gay activists with prison sentences of up to seven years for speaking in favour of legalising homosexuality.
One prominent conservative synod member, Andrea Minchiello Williams, recently urged Jamaican Christians to stress the link between homosexuality and paedophilia as part of a campaign against gay people there.
No comments:
Post a Comment