Japanese Anglicans Vote Yes on Women as Priests
Episcopal News Service. June 23, 1998 [98-2194C]
(ENS) At the regular meeting of its General Synod, the Nippon Sei Ko Kai (NSKK), the Holy Catholic Church in Japan, voted to ordain women to the priesthood. A previous synod, held in 1996, had rejected a similar proposal. The NSKK vote, 40 clergy and laity for and 14 clergy and laity against, brings the total of provinces in the Anglican Communion that ordain women to considerably over the 50 percent mark. There are 37 Provinces of the Communion at present, with the Hong Kong Chinese Church seeking provincial status by the end of the year. The synod also elected the Bishop John Takeda of Tokyo as its new archbishop and primate.