First Reactions

Church Times Report

DRAFT legislation for women bishops has drawn cautious responses since its publication last week . There is a prevailing desire not to question what the proposed Code of Practice could do before the General Synod examines it in detail in February.

The response of the traditionalist Catholic body Forward in Faith has been the most uncompromising. While it welcomed publication of the further report and associated documents, the organisation opposes in principle the Code that is at the heart of the proposals.

“We have consistently argued that a Code of Practice (with no transfer of jurisdiction) will not provide the security which tens of thousands of faithful and loyal Anglicans need in order to live with integrity in the Church of England after the ordina tion of women to the episcopate. Nothing in these documents changes that situation,” a terse statement on its website said last week.

The conservative Evangelical network Reform has predicted that the proposals will lead to petitions in the secular courts. “No amount of ‘delegation’ of episcopal power can cover up the fact that this power remains intact. And that means that female ‘headship’ will remain intact, despite our understanding of the Bible’s teaching to the contrary. Ultimately, therefore, since inade quate provision has been made to safeguard our ministries, we are bound to oppose what is on offer.”

For Catholic opponents, the pro posal for complementary bishops, acting with authority delegated from the diocesan, is viewed as unworkable if that bishop is a woman. But the report’s suggestion that this might be amended so that authority was transferred by law was welcomed, with reservations, by the chairman of the Catholic Group in the Synod, Canon Simon Killwick.

He described it as “a positive gesture in the right direction. But we’re not convinced at the moment that it would meet our needs. It will no doubt be discussed in the revision stage and may or may not be helpful.”

The illustrative Code leaves to the diocesan bishops’ discretion which episcopal functions would be delegated and to whom. “For us, that’s all far too discretionary: we’re looking for something that provides assurance rather than something which is at somebody’s discretion. It’s another difficult area,” Canon Killwick said.

The Synod’s vote for a Code of Practice was taken amid high tension in July. Canon Killwick said: “It’s precisely because of the fraught situation that the whole business of leaving things discretionary seems to be very unsatisfactory. It’s much better if everyone knows exactly where they stand.”

He welcomed the statement on parity of esteem, and the restate ment of the C of E’s commitment to the Lambeth Conference resolution that both those for and against the ordination of women are loyal Anglicans.

“To have that written into the preliminary to the Code of Practice is positive. It’s just that the Code of Practice does not deliver parity, because the provision for those who believe in women bishops is being made by law, but the provision for those who do not believe in women bishops is being made by a Code of Practice. That’s not parity of esteem or parity of treatment.”

On Tuesday, however, Affirming Catholicism welcomed the drafts. “We are glad to see the endorsement in the legislation of the principle that only diocesan bishops can delegate their authority to others.

“We welcome also the proposed provision . . . for those who dissent from this development. It has been our concern throughout that the maximum provision should be made which does not compromise the Catholic order of the Church of England. We welcome, but would like to see strengthened, the proposed provision in dioceses in which women’s priestly ministry is not accepted by their bishops.”

WATCH (Women and the Church) believes that the Measure and the Code, though a comprom ise, are the basis of good legislation and of a workable Code of Practice. The group has expressed its opposi tion, though, to the provision of male-only suffragan sees from which complementary bishops may be appointed. It will be making submissions to the revision com mittee about parts of the Code which it finds unacceptable.

“WATCH believes that the 20 years’ experience of women as bishops elsewhere in the Anglican Communion shows that mutually acceptable arrangements work well on an informal basis. WATCH continues to believe that a fully complementary ministry of women and men in the Church will signi­ficantly strengthen the mission of God to a very needy world,” a statement said.

Christina Rees, who chairs WATCH, said on Tuesday: “The Code of Practice will be as binding in people’s minds as the Measure. It will be rigorous in that if someone does not abide by the code they will have to give an account for it. It will feel like law and that is how it will be lived out.”

The Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Revd Nigel McCulloch, who chairs the drafting group, was unwell and unable to comment this week, but another member of the group, the Bishop of Basingstoke, the Rt Revd Trevor Wilmott, said on Wednesday that he believed that here was a basis on which to move forward.

“As a group, we have tried to listen to a huge range of voices, but the overriding voice is the voice for the Church to stay together, because that is our calling, to be united,” he said. People had spoken clearly in July about their deep-held positions, and confidence had been expressed that the Code of Practice was the right direction of travel.

“There’s a lot in the Code of Practice that we need to spend time looking at, so that people don’t immediately leap to the conclusion that it can’t give them the support — some would say, the safeguards — that they need,” he said.

Bishop Wilmott believed that the Synod and the House of Bishops could in due course produce a Code robust enough to hold the various different concerns. “I’d be hesitant about using the world ‘discre tionary’ as if it had no strength, no guts to it,” he said.

“It could, with the right under standing, give the support, the strength, the undergirding that people seek. It will provide a framework which will enable the Church still to be together.”