Standing up for Men ?
Church of England attempts to stop its own Implosion
MEN-ONLY BRANCH' PLAN FOR ANGLICAN CHURCH
Tuesday, November 2, 2004
'MEN-ONLY BRANCH' PLAN FOR ANGLICAN CHURCH AIMS TO DEFUSE ROW OVER WOMEN AS BISHOPS
By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
LONDON, ENGLAND (ANS) -- The Church of England ordained its first women priests ten years ago. Now, the Anglican church could set up a 'male clergy only' branch under proposals aimed at ending the row over whether women can be bishops.
The new province, with its own archbishop, is one of several options set out in the Church of England report which was published on Tuesday, according to British news sources.
Another option was to continue to allow women as priests but ban them from being ordained as bishops. A decision over how to resolve the row is expected to be taken next summer.
A working party set up by the House of Bishops has been looking into the issue for the past three years, said the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
A Church of England spokesman said the issues covered in the report would first be debated by the General Synod in February 2005.
He added: "Following a period of reflection on the report, there should be a decision at the July Synod on whether to embark on the process of removing the legal obstacles to ordaining women as bishops."
A wide range of options were considered by the working party which was headed by Rt Rev Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester, in the southern county of Hampshire in England.
Dr Nazir-Ali said: "During the time the party was at work, it was quite difficult emotionally and psychologically for people of opposing views to hear the other out -- but they did."
The Bishop added that if the Synod made a decision in principle in favor of women bishops in July, it could ask for further proposals on legislation.
The various approaches contained in the document, known as the Rochester Report, range from the "men-only" province, to making specific arrangements within the Church for those who cannot conscientiously accept women bishops.
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Dr Rowan Williams and Dr David Hope, issued a statement welcoming the report.
They said: "We are happy to commend it for prayerful study within the dioceses of the Church of England and to invite other Churches in the Anglican communion and our ecumenical partners to let us have their reflections on it."
Half of the 10 members of the working party group which compiled the document were women.
The Church ordained its first women priests in 1994, and supporters of women bishops believe it would make little sense to continue to exclude them from the episcopate.
But opponents point to a fundamental belief that Jesus' choice only of men as his apostles rules out women acting as leaders in the modern-day church.
The report calls for unity and peace within factions of the Church which disagree.
It concludes: "We need to give the highest priority to deepening the quality of our love for the other members of the body of Christ, perhaps especially those with whom we most strongly disagree on issues such as the ordination of women to the episcopate."
ANGLICANS CONSIDER MEN-ONLY BRANCH
Paul Majendie, writing for the Reuters news agency, says the Church of England is considering adopting a "men-only branch" as one way of defusing the row over women bishops in congregations already deeply divided over gay priests.
But church leaders who spent three years sounding out Anglicans on the vexed issue stressed that a branch served only by male clergy was just one of the options being pondered.
The General Synod of the Church of England is to review the report next February -- but it could be at least four years before a decision is made on women bishops.
They are currently permitted in the United States, Canada and New Zealand. Australia discussed allowing them at a national synod last month but rejected the idea.
The Church of England ordained its first women priests 10 years ago after a heated and divisive debate. Now one in six of England's 11,000 parish priests is a woman.
Supporters of women bishops believe it is high time they are allowed to break through the "stained glass ceiling" in the church hierarchy. But opponents point out Jesus Christ chose only men as his apostles, arguing that this rules out women as leaders in the modern-day church.
Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali, presenting his report, said the issue had stirred up impassioned debate in the 11-strong working party after they received 700 submissions from two sharply divided camps.
But he was still confident that the Church of England could follow the same path as the North Americans and New Zealanders in the Anglican Church which, in contrast to the hierarchical Roman Catholic Church, relies very much on consensus.
"If the Church decides to ordain women, we think it will be possible, given good will on every side, to maintain the unity of the Church," the bishop told reporters.
Goodwill has been in short supply as conservatives and traditionalists traded insults over same-sex marriages in Canada and the ordination of gay American bishop Gene Robinson, Reuters said.
Highlighting the growing global Anglican rift over gays, African bishops decided at a meeting in Lagos this week to strengthen local training colleges to distinguish their teaching from North American churches that have embraced homosexuality.
"God created us male and female and we cannot sacrifice truth for any revisionist agenda which leans on a faulty understanding of Christian unity," said the Africans who represent more than half the world's 70 million Anglicans.
Last month, a report issued in London by Anglican Church leaders sought to heal the deepening divisions, urging liberals to apologize for their actions and to promise it would not happen again -- at least for now.
ANGLICAN CHURCH MOVES CLOSER TO ACCEPTING WOMEN BISHOPS
Nicholas Pyke, writing in The Independent newspaper (www.independent.co.uk) said proposals that could see the first female Archbishop of Canterbury will be unveiled on Tuesday,
as the Church of England reopens the decade-long controversy over the ordination of women priests.
The report by Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester, is seen as a major step towards the appointment of female bishops, following the ordination of women a decade ago.
But the development has been resisted by both the Catholic and evangelical wings of the Church, with some opponents claiming God ordained that a man be at the head of every institution, including the family.
The Church is already grappling with the equally divisive arguments over the appointment of practicing homosexuals to the priesthood.
Earlier this month the Eames report called on sections of the American Church to repent for the decision to appoint Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire, a move that caused resentment in other parts of the Anglican communion, notably in Africa.
The new report, which follows a three-year inquiry, is understood to make few recommendations, but supporters of women bishops are confident that victory is near, with a showdown expected at the next meeting of the Synod, the Church's governing council, in February.
Reuters said the dioceses of Guildford, Worcester, Ripon and Leeds, Southwark and St Albans have already put forward motions in favor of women bishops.
The news agency said two women have so far risen to become cathedral deans: and the Very Rev June Osborne at Salisbury and Vivienne Faull at Leicester are regarded as frontrunners for a bishopric. Some other countries, notably the US, Canada and New Zealand, already have female bishops.
The report sets out a series of options for resolving the controversy, ranging from upholding the ban on women bishops, to lifting it without reservations.
It takes in a series of compromises that include allowing women to be bishops, but not senior ones, and setting up a separate "province" for Anglicans who want nothing to do with female priests.
According to the traditionalist Forward in Faith group, which has been pressing for this separation, the ordination of women remains a critical issue.
A prominent FiF member, the Rt Rev John Broadhurst, suffragan to the Bishop of Fulham, recently accused supporters of women bishops within the Church of resorting to "Stalinist" propaganda techniques to get their way.
Christina Rees, the head of the Women and the Church (Watch) campaign for female bishops, welcomed the forthcoming report.
"This is another important stage on the way to the appointment of women bishops," she said.
FEARS OVER WOMEN PRIESTS PROMPT 'MALE-ONLY' MOVE
Britain’s Sky News, reporting on how the Church of England may create a men only branch to end the row over female priests, says it would see some churches served only by male clergy, as in Canada, New Zealand and the United States.
The Church's General Synod will review the report in February but any final decision could still be years away.
Its first women priests were ordained in 1994 and now make up one in six of the 11,000 parish priests. But the Church stressed it was only one of the options being considered.
Opponents of women priests say Jesus only chose men as his apostles, which ruled out female priests.
The issue follows that of gay priests, which almost split the worldwide Anglican church with the ordination of homosexual American bishop Gene Robinson.
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