Decision to Ordain Women Provokes Wave of Reaction in Church of England
Episcopal News Service. December 3, 1992 [92240]
After the initial elation -- and shock -- of the November 11 decision by the Church of England to ordain women to the priesthood, a wave of reaction has swept through many comers of the church.
Storm clouds gathered quickly in the wake of a proposal by retired Bishop of London Graham Leonard for disaffected Anglicans to leave the Church of England and seek a special relationship with the Roman Catholic Church.
Contending that the Church of England is now a "sect," and expressing determination to "make it clear beyond any shadow of doubt that we cannot accept the change," Leonard sketched several possibilities.
One would be a semiautonomous church, continuing to use Anglican liturgy, but accepting the authority of Rome, like some of the Uniate churches of Eastern Orthodoxy. Another possibility would be a "personal prelature" based on mission, not territory, similar to the international Roman Catholic organization Opus Dei.
Leonard said that he discussed the ideas with "a very high-placed member of the Catholic Church" and received cautious encouragement: "not a green light but not a red light either," according to one Roman Catholic spokesman.
Cardinal Edward Cassidy, an Australian who is president of the Vatican's Council on Christian Unity, told an Italian magazine, "We will try to contact them to help them find possible forms of communion in the Catholic church." And Cardinal Basil Hume of Westminster, leader of Roman Catholics in Great Britain, has privately expressed some interest in the idea of a personal prelature but cautiously deferred to Rome.
A third and more likely option would be an informal network within the Church of England in which bishops opposed to women in the priesthood would exercise an "alternative episcopal oversight" among those who cannot accept the change.
Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey said that he "recognizes the hurt and anger that some feel but hopes that hasty or ill-considered judgments will be avoided." He further angered some traditionalists by announcing that he would personally ordain the first women to the priesthood.
In his call for calm reflection, Carey was joined by a dozen traditionalist bishops who voted against the measure -- including David Hope, bishop of London. The bishops issued a statement admitting that "we are increasingly aware of the considerable anxiety, distress and hurt amongst laity and clergy" in the wake of the decision. The bishops called for "prayer and quiet consultation" and said that they would "continue to exercise pastoral care for all in our dioceses whatever their views on the ordination of women to the priesthood."
On the parish level, the reactions the Sunday after the vote included the full range of emotions. At a small Anglo-Catholic parish in London, the vote was greeted with a sense of bereavement that "something has changed, something is taken away." At historic St. Stephens Gloucester Road, where poet T.S. Eliot was once warden, one could hear the muffled sounds of crying. The parish bulletin noted that "nothing can ever be the same again....We are entering uncharted waters -- and that is disquieting." On the other hand, members of St. James' Piccadilly burst into applause as their colorfully vested woman deacon, Illa Monberg, addressed them and a television audience. Women deacons in other parishes were introduced as "priests-elect."
Television also covered the arrival of Ann Widdecombe, a Social Security Minister, at a Roman Catholic cathedral. Widdecombe said that the vote was "the last straw" and announced that she is now leaving the Church of England.
Several rectors urged their parishioners to avoid hasty reactions and wait until the situation had calmed down and it became clearer how the church would accommodate those who are staunchly opposed to women in the priesthood.
In the meantime, as a result of the vote the Movement for the Ordination of Women said that it expects "a fresh surge of energy, a raising of morale and a new credibility in the eyes of the world." It estimated that a thousand women are waiting to be ordained to the priesthood as soon as the legislation receives final approval. One bishop even suggested that women ordained abroad might be licensed to function as priests before that time.
No one was predicting what will happen when the reactions fade and church leaders and members try to assess with a more realistic eye what has changed -- and how they would live together in the face of new realities.