WUNRN
Church of England Approves Plan Allowing Female Bishops
By KATRIN
BENNHOLD - NOV. 17, 2014
LONDON — The Church of England overturned centuries of
tradition on Monday with a final vote allowing women to become bishops, with
the first appointments possible by Christmas.
Approval of the historic change, which was first agreed
to in July, was announced after a largely symbolic show of hands at the General
Synod, the lawmaking body of the Church of England. The British Parliament
supported the measure last month.
“Today we can begin to embrace a new way of being the
church and moving forward together,” the archbishop of Canterbury, the Most
Rev. Justin Welby, said after the vote.
Two decades after the first female priest was ordained,
the issue of women taking senior roles in the church hierarchy remains
divisive. As recently as 2012, the proposal had been defeated by six votes.
But Archbishop Welby, the spiritual leader of the church
and the global Anglican Communion, who supported the vote from the start, had
warned fellow church leaders this year that the public would find the exclusion
of women “almost incomprehensible.”
Members of the Anglican clergy voting in London on Monday
for a historic change. Credit Stefan Rousseau/Press Association, via Associated
Press
On Monday, however, he acknowledged that a split in the
worldwide Anglican community was now a serious possibility. “Without prayer and
repentance, it is hard to see how we can avoid some serious fractures,” he
said.
The change involves the addition of a sentence to Canon
33, stating: “A man or a woman may be consecrated to the office of bishop.”
Half a dozen British dioceses may soon appoint new
bishops, including Oxford, Gloucester and Newcastle. Southwell and Nottingham
are reportedly already considering applications from women, and a first
appointment might be made before the year’s end. Last month, the church floated
the idea that affirmative action could be used to ordain underrepresented
female bishops.
One faction within the Church of England that opposes
women as bishops is a conservative evangelical group called Reform. Arguing
that “the divine order of male headship” makes it “inappropriate” for women to
lead dioceses, Reform claims that at least a quarter of the church will find
this incompatible with their beliefs.
But Monday’s vote was welcomed by longstanding
campaigners like the Very Rev. Jane Hedges, the first female dean of Norwich,
who called it “very exciting and good news for the church and our mission to
the world.” Dean Hedges said she had not expected to see this change in her
professional life.
Archbishop Welby predicted after Monday’s vote that half
the Church of England’s bishops could be women within a decade, which would
mean that about 50 dioceses could be led by women.
Hilary Cotton, the chairwoman of Women and the Church, or
Watch, told the BBC that she hoped the change occurred quickly.
“It is not just about having women wearing purple,” she
said. “It is about changing the culture of the church to be more equal.”
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