Women bishops briefing notes

Introduction

These Briefing Notes have been produced by WATCH (National) to aid the debate on the consecration of women as bishops in the Church of England. They are designed to give brief but important points that can be made in debates in Dioceses, Deaneries or parishes and used generally, for example in press releases. They are based largely on the Rochester Report, published by the Church of England in November 2004.

There are three Series of Notes:

- Series A provides a set of background information

- Series B covers points for debate, looking firstly at the arguments in favour of women bishops and then at arguments used by those against women bishops

- Series C looks at the various options put forward in the Rochester Report

References throughout are as follows:

• Rochester - Women Bishops in the Church of England? A Report of the House of Bishops’ Working Party on Women in the Episcopate, Church House Publishing, 2004
• Windsor - The Lambeth Commission on Communion - The Windsor Report 2004, Anglican Communion Office, 2004
• Jones - Women and Priesthood in the Church of England Ten Years On, ed Ian Jones, Lincoln Theological Institute, Church House Publishing, 2004
• G S Proceedings - General Synod Report of Proceedings, July 2004, Vol 35 no 2, Church House Publishing

Further information and help with the issues raised can be obtained from the Chair of WATCH, Christina Rees, 01763 848 822, christina@mediamaxima.com  or from the WATCH Office, St John’s Church, London, SE1 8TY, angelhughes@blueyonder.co.uk

Further copies of this pack may be obtained from the WATCH Office. They are free of charge but a donation for orders of multiple copies, payable to WATCH (National), would be appreciated. The text is also available to download free of charge from the WATCH website - www.watchwomen.com

SERIES A – BACKGROUND INFORMATION

A1 History of Women’s Ordained Ministry in the Church of England

• 1861 – Order of Deaconesses established
• 1935 – Order of Deaconesses declared to be Holy Order
• 1975 – General Synod declares there are no fundamental objections to ordaining women as priests
• 1978 – General Synod motion calling for legislation to enable women to be both priests and bishops passed by Houses of Bishops and Laity but defeated in House of Clergy
• 1984 – General Synod motion calling for legislation to enable women to be priests – the process begins
• 1987 – first women ordained as Deacons
• 1988 – Revd Barbara Harris elected as first woman bishop in the Anglican Communion – in Episcopal Church in the USA (ECUSA)
• 1989 – draft legislation for women to be priests approved by General Synod and sent to the Dioceses for debate
• 1992 – General Synod votes in favour of women priests (by 2/3 majority in each House – laity, clergy, bishops)
• 1993 – Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure passed
• 1993 – Episcopal Ministry Act of Synod passed
• 1994 – first 1,500 women ordained as priests

A2 Statistics

• 20-25% of priests in the Church of England are women
• there are 1,262 stipendiary women priests and 700 NSM women priests in the Church of England (Rochester para 4.3.2)Half of Ordinands currently in training for the Church of England are women (ibid)
• 81% of clergy and an even higher proportion of lay people in the Church of England support women priests (Jones p xi)
• 69% of clergy and an even higher proportion of lay people in the Church of England support women bishops (Jones p xii)
• as at March 2005, there are 2 women Deans in the Church of England – Salisbury and Leicester
• as at March 2005, there are 6 women Archdeacons in the Church of England – Buckingham, Colchester, Lewisham, Northampton, St Albans and Worcester
• 25 of the 38 Provinces of the Anglican Communion have women priests (Rochester Annex One)
• 14 of the 38 Provinces of the Anglican Communion have legislated in favour of women bishops (Rochester Annex One)
• there have been a total of 16 women bishops in the Anglican Communion, in ECUSA, Canada and New Zealand, of whom nine have been Diocesan Bishops
• as at March 2005, there are 12 women bishops in the Anglican Communion – 9 in Episcopal Church in the USA (ECUSA) and 3 in Canada. Of the four retired women bishops, one still acts as an Assistant Bishop with ECUSA

A3 Ecumenical Situation

• Two Churches from the Porvoo Agreement, Norway and Sweden, have women bishops
• The German Evangelical Church (Meissen Agreement) has women bishops
• The French Lutheran Church (Reuilly Agreement) has women bishops
• The Moravian Church in the UK (Fetter Lane Agreement) has women bishops
• The Methodist Church has women in positions equivalent to bishop
• The United Reform Church has women in positions equivalent to bishop
• The Roman Catholic Church does not ordain women and is forbidden to discuss the ordination of women
• The Orthodox Church has no ordained women but is discussing the full restoration of the order of women deacons

A4 Current Arrangements for those Opposed to Women Priests

1993 Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure

• This enables PCCs to pass Resolution A that they do not wish a woman priest to celebrate the Eucharist in their Church
• As at 31 March 2004, 810 PCCs (out of 13,181 = 6.1%) have passed Resolution A (response to Question asked at General Synod in February 2005)
• It also enables PCCs to pass Resolution B that they do not wish to have a women incumbent
• As at 31 March 2004, 1,002 PCCs (7.6%) have passed Resolution B (response to Question asked at General Synod in February 2005)
• In addition, financial provisions enabled priests who left the Church of England before February 2004 over the issue to be paid a lump sum plus periodical payments in lieu of income
• 441 male priests have left the Church of England and claimed money under these terms; 31 have since returned to take up stipendiary positions (GS Proceedings p 160)
• Ј27.5m has been paid out in periodical payments (ibid)

1993 Episcopal Ministry Act of Synod

• This enables PCCs to petition Diocesan Bishop for “extended Episcopal oversight” on basis of not being able to accept pastoral care of a Diocesan Bishop who supports and/or has ordained women as priests
• It set up system of three Provincial Episcopal Visitors (PEVs) – known as “flying bishops”
• As at 31 March 2004, 315 (2.4%) of PCCs have passed petitions (response to Question asked at General Synod in February 2005)

Diocesan Bishop has three options on receiving petition:

• Ask a Suffragan or retired Bishop in the Diocese to act
• Enter into a regional arrangement with a neighbouring Diocese
• Ask relevant PEV to act

As at 31 March 2004, nine Dioceses (Blackburn, Chester, Chichester, Europe, London, Newcastle, St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, Wakefield and York) have made provision wholly or partly within the Diocese; a further four (Carlisle, Guildford, Rochester and Southwark) have made regional provision. The remainder all make use of PEVs (response to Question asked at General Synod in February 2005)

Diocesan Bishop retains overall responsibility for parishes concerned

There is NO provision the other way – for parishes in Diocese where the Diocesan bishop is against the ordination of women, and who themselves favour the ordination of women, to be ministered to by a bishop who agrees with and is supportive of their views.

A5 Likely Timetable of Synodical Process following Take Note debate in General Synod (GS) on Rochester Report in February 2005

• July 2005 – GS debate on motion calling for legislation to be brought forward
• February 2006 – GS debate on report from House of Bishops on preferred option(s)
• July 2006 – GS debate on draft legislation for First (outline) Approval; referred to Revision Committee to consider detailed comments
• February 2007 – start of GS Revision Stage debate(s) – could take 2 years
• February 2008 – legislation referred to House of Bishops for approval
• July 2008 - legislation referred to Diocesan Synods – approval of simple majority required. Reference to Deanery Synods and parishes by Diocesan Synod optional
• July 2009 – possible earliest date for Final Approval GS debate – requiring 2/3 majority in each House
• 2010 – Parliamentary approval and Royal Assent
• 2010 – possible for women to be consecrated bishop in Church of England

SERIES B – POINTS FOR DEBATE: ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR

B1 Mission: the Church of England needs to have women bishops for its mission activity

• We need both female and male bishops to give the Church of England any credibility, especially amongst young people. The Church of England Youth Council (CEYC) at its first meeting passed by a majority of 84% a motion supporting and encouraging the General Synod to take immediate action towards allowing the consecration of women as bishops within the Church of England (CEYC Newsletter November 2004)
• In a society where gender equality rights have been enshrined in law for more than 25 years, the Church of England is seen as a place of sexism and injustice – so why join?
• If male and female are both made in the image of God, how come only men are allowed to lead and take responsibility in the Church of England?
• Arguments about the danger of the “feminisation” of the Church assume that the Church needs a male leadership to attract men – there is little evidence that this has worked so far
• The House of Bishops needs women to balance its deliberations and decisions

B2 Language: our continued use of masculine language for people and God is a stumbling block for many

• Language is a powerful tool of communication; it shapes the way people think of themselves, the world and God. There has never been a time in the English language when words like “he” were unambiguously generic. There was an attempt to establish this by law for certain documents in the 19th century – a sure sign that it was not the case in society at large or else why legislate for it?
• We know that God is beyond gender, but continual use of solely masculine images and pronouns for God suggest to many that, really, God is male
• If God is always referred to as Father or as “he”, then both women and men may infer that men are more like God in an essential way (their sex) than women are. This reinforces the historical view of women as the lesser sex, and needs to be challenged. It also impoverishes our understanding of God with implications for the way Christians relate both to God and to one another
• Men and women are both made in God’s image. The Church has been ambivalent about this down the ages, arguing over whether women have souls, or whether they are really “faulty” men
• Many bibles, hymns and prayers continue to use “he” to mean “he or she”, “brothers” to mean “brothers and sisters” and “mankind” for “humankind”. This is offensive to many, both women and men. If men are always named as the norm, many women of all ages feel inferior, invisible and even alienated from the Church
• Having women as bishops will to continue to raise the issue of language and challenge current usage

B3 Human Rights: in a society committed to equality of treatment and of opportunity for all, irrespective of gender, race, etc, the Church is seen as out-of-step and irrelevant

• Church of England is specifically exempt from the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act to avoid being challenged over issue of women priests
• House of Bishops is already planning amendments to Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure to ensure exemption continues under new EU Equal Treatment Directive
• Pressure to change exemption will grow as clergy gain other employment rights
• A legal challenge could be made that allowing women as priests but not bishops is unfairly discriminatory
• Priests legally ordained by women bishops from elsewhere in the Anglican Communion cannot minister in the Church of England without specific approval from the Archbishop of Canterbury which is discretionary
• Women bishops legally consecrated elsewhere in the Anglican Communion cannot legally minister as bishops in the Church of England

B4 Ecumenical Issues (Protestant and Reformed Churches)

• Relations with many Churches would be enhanced if we had women bishops
• Those Protestant and Lutheran Churches with whom the Church of England is in visible unity support women priests and many have women bishops (see A5 for details)
•  The Methodist Church, with whom the Church of England is moving to visible unity through the Anglican-Methodist Covenant, has stated that such unity cannot be achieved until and unless the Church of England accepts women bishops
• The United Reformed Church believes that equal opportunity at all levels of the Church is a moral imperative

B5 The Need for a Simple, Single Clause Measure

• Unambiguous theological statement of equality of men and women in life and ministry of Church
• Clear and straightforward
• A single-clause Measure is one along the lines of “It shall be lawful for a woman to be consecrated to the office of bishop”
• In legal terms, this requires only deletion of Canon C 2(5) and relevant section of Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure and replacement by single clause
• Necessary to enable ALL bishops, not just women bishops, to fulfil prophetic and unifying role
• Would be difficult to persuade women to accept the offer of Episcopal posts if these were on a restricted basis
• Current provisions for those opposed to women’s priestly ministry has enabled them to withdraw from the majority of the Church. Rather than actively engaging with those in favour, enabling further discernment through experience, a male-clergy-only ghetto has been created. This is unhealthy for the Church, and must not happen again
• Means that “bishops are bishops” – we don’t have “bishops” and “women bishops” as separate species with different legal rights

B6 A Code of Practice from the House of Bishops would provide sufficient safeguards for those opposed

• A Code would be agreed by the House of Bishops and formally approved by the General Synod, giving it proper authorisation. It could be overseen by an independent commission to ensure compliance
• It would be a flexible and pastoral way of providing for those who will not  accept the ministry of women bishops
• It would do away with legislative arrangements such as the current Act of Synod which are open to abuse
• It could exist at regional or Diocesan level
• The Scottish Episcopal Church has agreed such a code in its Statement of Intent (Rochester pp 211-212)
• In ECUSA (Episcopal Church in the United States) a similar system has operated for many years. Bishop Geralyn Wolf, Rhode Island USA, has spoken about her scheme whereby she agrees with individual clergy on the provision of pastoral oversight from another bishop in the Province and maintains her right to visit the parish concerned at least once every eighteen months for a non-Eucharistic service
• Those who say it won’t be sufficient assume a complete lack of trust and of goodwill on the side of those in favour of women bishops for which there is no evidence

B7 The time is not right: there is no consensus for women to be bishops at the present time; the Church is still in a period of “reception” for women priests

Response:

• Women priests are a reality and are widely accepted and valued. Many are now retiring after decades of faithful service in the Church as Deaconesses, Deacons and, for the last ten years, as priests
• Many people assume that women can already be bishops
• There is widespread support within the Church of England – 69% of clergy support women bishops along with an even higher proportion of laity (Jones p xii). This needs to be tested by a formal vote in General Synod
• It is a matter of justice to make use of the gifts and experiences of women priests
• The Church is seen by contemporary society as completely out of date and out of touch in not allowing women to be leaders
• The idea of “reception” can be used to stop the Church making any change unless everyone agrees with it, so it doesn’t help us to decide in this case
• When does the period of reception end? When all the Churches agree that woman can be priests? When every member of the Church of England agrees that they can be priests?
• The matter was essentially decided in 1992 – women can be priests, and in one interpretation of his/her role the bishop is merely the “senior” priest
• Without women bishops, women priests (and by implication all women) will continue to be regarded as second-class citizens in some parts of the Church – and the Church will be seen as treating them as second class by those outside

B8 Tradition: women bishops are counter to the traditions of the Church

Response:

• Tradition is dynamic, not static – it arises from a consideration and determination by the Church at a particular time in its history and not from longstanding continuity. For example, the Church refused to ordain left-handed people until the 19th century
• Women were active as leaders in the early Church as evidenced by the Acts of the Apostles (Lydia, Phoebe, Priscilla and others)
• In ordaining women as priests, the Church of England has already decided that Jesus, being male, and choosing only male apostles, does not imply that only men can be priests. Rather, we need both male and female priests to represent the full humanity of Christ
• The Church of England has a three-fold order of ministry (bishops, priests and deacons) which is currently impaired as only two orders are open to women
• The Church of England is legally able to determine its own orders, as it did at the Reformation

B9 Headship: Scripture includes passages stating that women cannot exercise authority over men

Response:

• The overall trajectory of scripture points to equality between men and women (Gal 3:28)
• The Bible never talks of “headship” as a concept but uses “head” as a metaphor.  This metaphor is as ambiguous in Greek as it is in English – it can refer to authority, eg head teacher, or to source, eg head of a river
• There is no foundation in creation narratives (Genesis 1 & 2) for a theory of male headship. Male and female are both made in God’s image. The passage about Eve being made from Adam’s rib indicates that the sexes are incomplete without each other, not that one is superior
• Two texts that use language of headship (1 Cor 11:3-10 & Eph 5:22-23) are not strictly about the relationships of men and women in the life of the Church.  Corinthians concerns appropriate dress for worship while Ephesians concerns internal domestic relationships
• Alternative interpretations exist for two texts (1 Cor 14:33-38 & 1 Tim 2:12-15) showing that these are culturally specific and no longer relevant to today’s Church. Paul himself writes about women speaking in Church as if this were a natural occurrence (1 Cor 11:5) and sends greetings to women who were in positions of authority in the local Church (Romans 16)
• God calls and gives gifts to all people according to their heart and not according to their gender. Jesus’ requirements are the same for all who would follow him, irrespective of their gender (Matt 10:34-38)
• At Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured out on both men and women (Acts 2:4) in fulfilment of the prophetic vision (Joel 2:28-29)

B10 The Anglican Communion: women bishops in the Church of England would cause schism in the Anglican Communion

Response:

• The Church of England would not be alone within the Anglican Communion in having women bishops
• Out of the 38 Provinces of the Anglican Communion, 14, including Ireland and Scotland, have already passed legislation to enable women to be consecrated as bishops (Rochester Annex One)
• There have been 16 women bishops in total in the Anglican Communion, in ECUSA, Canada and New Zealand, of whom five have now retired
• There are currently 11 women bishops in the Anglican Communion – 9 in ECUSA and 2 in Canada
• Lambeth Conference Resolution of 1988 makes it clear that individual Provinces are free to make their own decisions on women bishops and that these are to be respected by the other Provinces (Windsor para 19)
• Part of the great value of being Anglican is that we can still live and worship together when we disagree about things that are important to us

B11 Ecumenical Issues (Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches): women bishops would hinder ecumenical relationships

Response:

• The Roman Catholic Church and, to some extent, the Orthodox Church do not accept the validity of ANY Anglican orders – men’s or women’s
• The Pope has forbidden Roman Catholics even to discuss the matter of the ordination of women as priests
• >Despite this, there is a considerable groundswell of active support for women’s ordination in the RC Church. Catholic Women’s Ordination (CWO) and Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW) hold regular conferences which are well-attended despite some threats of excommunication
• The Orthodox Churches are more open: a 1988 consultation convened by the Ecumenical patriarch on the place of women in the Orthodox Church concluded that there had been women deacons in the early Church and called for the restoration of women deacons now

SERIES C – OPTIONS SUGGESTED IN THE ROCHESTER REPORT

C1 The Option of Extended Episcopal Oversight

“There could be explicit provision of some form of extended or alternative oversight within the present provincial and diocesan structure of the Church of England for those opposed to the ordination of women bishops.” (Rochester p 213)

Response:

• The suggestions that (i) there be at least one male bishop in every Diocese and (ii) male bishops would minister to dissenting parishes under the direct authority of the Archbishop of the Province are unworkable (bureaucratic nightmare, pastoral confusion, uneven workloads)
• It is akin to the existing Act of Synod which has caused practical and theological problems
• It would undermine the principle of oversight of the Diocesan Bishop over all the clergy and parishes in the Diocese
• It would amount to institutional schism by creating parishes in which the Diocesan bishop’s role was not recognised

C2 The Option of a third (or free) Province

“A third Province with its own bishops and archbishop could be established within the Church of England. It would have an exclusive male episcopate and priesthood to which clergy and parishes opposed to the ordination of women could then opt to belong.” (Rochester p 218)

Response:

• The Windsor Report speaks of the norm that all Christians in one place should be united in their prayer, worship and the celebration of the sacraments. More than one jurisdiction in one place is to be discouraged and  the establishment of parallel jurisdictions is not favoured (Windsor para 154)
• Wrong in principle to establish a Province based on a single issue
• Theologically wrong in that it eliminates need for Church of England to live with differences
• Problems of such a Province holding together on basis of a negative rather than a positive rationale
• Sets precedent that those who object to their Diocesan bishop can ask for a 4th/5th/6th Province
• Would have to be in communion with Archbishop of Canterbury who would ordain women, and could even be a woman
• If truly a part of Church of England, then bishops would need to be in communion with other bishops, but some of these would ordain women and some might be women
• What would be the legal (Canon law) and administrative (Synodical) structures?
• The numbers involved do not justify any restructuring. Cost would be high. Who would pay for it?
• Issues around Church Schools shared by different parishes in different Provinces; these are community schools not simply for Churchgoers
• Local people, who might rarely attend Church, still consider it “theirs” and don’t want it removed to some “other” Church as they see it. Would they still have access to the graveyard, to their Cathedral, to neighbouring parishes?
• Potential misunderstanding that there will be one Church for men and one for women (this is already around)
• A third Province would remain within the Church of England, and its clergy would continue to be paid by the Church of England and receive their pensions from it. A free Province (not attached to any other but still within the Anglican Communion) would need to make other financial arrangements. Perhaps this is why there is more support for a third rather than a free Province?

C3 The Option of Restricted Episcopal Ministry

“There could be some form of restriction on the exercise of the Episcopal office by women.” (Rochester p 223)

Response:

• The various suggestions – (i) that women could be appointed as Diocesan bishops but not Archbishop; (ii) that women could be appointed as Suffragan or area bishops but not Diocesan bishop and (iii) that there be a team of bishops in each Diocese one of whom would always be male – would only partly satisfy those who consider “headship” a problem
• It would not solve the problem of women bishops exercising spiritual authority over men
• Reinforces the view of the Church of England as unfairly discriminatory
• Would women be prepared to be bishops under such restrictions?
• Such women bishops would not be exercising the office of bishop as normally understood
• The issue of bishops not in communion with each other would remain
• There would continue to be a stained glass ceiling preventing talented, able, experienced women to take their place at the highest levels in the Church of England
• Restrictions of any kind would violate Catholic understanding of episcope
• The team approach would breach the concept of the Diocesan bishop as a focus of unity

C4 The Option of Financial Compensation

“There could be financial provision for those clergy who left the Church of England because they could not accept the ordination of women bishops.” (Rochester p 226)

Response:

• The Church of England could not afford it
• The Church of England SHOULD not afford it, when it has huge financial commitments already (staff and buildings) and is looking to spend its money on mission activities as well as contributing to initiatives such as “Making Poverty History”
• Clergy who object on principle to women priests (and therefore presumably to women bishops) should already have left under the 1993 provisions, receiving £27.5m in periodical payments