London, England - A large group of bishops has issued a last-minute appeal to the Church of England to hold back from allowing women the opportunity to become bishops.
On the eve of next week’s General Synod, 17 bishops have expressed their concern that it would be pre-emptive to remove the legal impediments for the ordination of women as bishops before the Church has had proper time to debate the issue.
In a letter to The Church of England Newspaper, they warn that voting to set the process in motion for women to become bishops would be deeply divisive for the Church’s relations with its other provinces in the Communion and its ecumenical partners.
It reads: “There is ample evidence from church history, not least, and most recently, in the Anglican Communion, that actions by individual provinces touching the scriptural and traditional faith and order of the Church, actions that inevitably unchurch those who cannot accept such changes, do not serve the unity which Christ asks of his Church.”
The letter, which is signed by six diocesan bishops, including one of the highest ranking in the Church, the Bishop of Durham, the Rt Rev Tom Wright, says: “This matter touches profoundly both the order and identity of the Church of England and its place in the Church as a whole.”
The bishops argue that the Bishop of Rochester’s report showed that there is still “major theological disagreement within the Church of England” on the issue. They add that it is also a matter of deep concern to ecumenical partners who share a historic commitment to apostolic order.
It would be inappropriate to take action before there has been “a full and extensive theological debate,” they argue. “To begin the process of removing the legal impediments to the ordination of women as bishops before such debate would widely and correctly be interpreted as assuming the answer.”
Campaigners for women bishops will be concerned that the intervention of the bishops ahead of next week’s meeting could cast doubt over what had seemed like a certain vote in favour of removing the legal obstacles preventing women from being promoted to the episcopate.
For the motion to be passed, it will require a backing from two-thirds of each of the General Synod’s houses of laity, clergy and bishops.
The Bishop of Pontefract, the Rt Rev Tony Robinson, one of the letter’s signatories, said that there needed to be a fuller discussion at all levels of the Church before Synod took a decision on the issue.
Christina Rees, Chair of Women and the Church, attacked the bishops’ letter as “an insult” to the thousands of women serving as priests.
She refuted the claim that the Church had not had a proper debate on the issue and said that the overwhelming majority of the Church wanted women as bishops. “This has been on our agenda for 30 years. The time is now right. The exasperation most people in the Church feel that this has not happened yet is very high. We have already exhausted the issues.”
Mrs Rees warned that the Church would be left in a far worse state if it took more time to debate the issue.
There are 14 provinces in the Communion that have already approved women as bishops. Only eight do not have women’s ordination.