The implementation of full rights for women to prepare for ordination and serve in every diocese of the church will be mandatory under a proposed canon which would be effective Jan. 1, 1998.

Details were hammered out in Arlington, Va., July 5-7, in a meeting of a special committee on legislation known as Canon III.8.1. The bishops of dioceses in which women are not ordained as priests - Eau Claire, Quincy, Fort Worth and San Joaquin - will be subject to presentment if they fail to submit to the proposed canon. The 5-to-4 vote by the committee was a major victory for the Episcopal Women's Caucus, which had insisted on speeding up deliberations and supplied most of the people offering statements.

A marked undercurrent of impatience that full acceptance for women was even an issue after nearly three decades of discussion was tersely articulated in a statement read by the Rt. Rev. Jane Dixon, Suffragan Bishop of Washington, in behalf of herself and the two other women bishops, the Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris, Suffragan Bishop of Massachusetts, and the Rt. Rev. Mary Adelia McLeod, Bishop of Vermont. They declared that "we will no longer participate in a dialogue intended to avoid implementation of Canon III.8.1."

Bishop Dixon's remarks were followed within a few hours by a response from the Rt. Rev. William Wantland, Bishop of Eau Claire, who renewed his intentions to resign his office if the 1997 General Convention votes to accept the proposed canon, changing what he had considered as permissive to mandatory.

The opening day included testimony from the Rt. Rev. John-David Schofield, Bishop of San Joaquin, and Rt. Rev. Jack Iker, Bishop of Fort Worth. A third colleague, the Rt. Rev. Keith Ackerman, Bishop of Quincy, did not appear because of a previous engagement. The Rt. Rev. Russell Jacobus, Bishop of Fond du Lac, said he supports women clergy but thought it would "take time" for his diocese to change.

Bishop Schofield said, "The question assumes that by not ordaining [women] I'm keeping my spiritual skirts clean. The real question is whether a woman can indeed be a priest."

"It's incredible to me for you to declare that the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches do not hold a recognized theological position, which was the position of this church until 20 years ago," Bishop Iker said.

Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning was absent because physicians had ordered him to bed because of a sciatic nerve condition. Pamela Chinnis, president of the House of Deputies, was seated with the committee but did not vote.

Having been summoned only for the first day, neither Bishop Iker nor Bishop Schofield was present for testimonies by numerous persons on the second day. Most testimony was similar to the hearings that led up to General Convention's approval of women's ordination in 1976; some alleged a "siege mentality," fear of retribution, and "a police state" in Fort Worth and San Joaquin. Numerous other viewpoints came from the Anglican Church of Canada, where a comprehensive canon has long been in effect, and Integrity, the national organization for gays and lesbians.

Executive sessions on Thursday evening as well as floor discussion led to the rejection of three alternatives, most with features that would have to be approved by two consecutive General Conventions:

1. The "Quincy Plan," in which a bishop ordains those who will not or cannot be ordained elsewhere.

2. The "Pennsylvania Plan," adopted from the Church of England's "flying bishops," in which a retired bishop or suffragan goes to congregations which cannot accept a non-traditionalist.

3. The "Parallel Jurisdiction Plan," in which traditionalist parishes would be an "island" within a diocese under direction of an outside bishop.

The non-canonical resolution adopted on the third day states:

• No member of this church shall be denied access to the ordination process, postulancy, candidacy, ordination, license to officiate in a diocese, a call to cure in a diocese or letters dimissory solely on account of their theological views;
• No one shall be denied a place in the life and governance of this church solely on account of theological views on ordination of women;
• Every person who exercises a ministry as a leader and trustee ... is obliged to obey and implement the canon law of this church.

Committee members who voted for implementation of the canon were: The Rt. Rev. Frank Allan, Atlanta; the Hon. James E. Bradberry, Southern Virginia; the Rev. Canon Gay Jennings, Ohio; Sara G. McCrory, Upper South Carolina, and the Rev. Anne W. Robbins, Southern Ohio.

Those who voted against implementation: Rita Moyer, Pennsylvania; David W. Rawson, Pennsylvania; the Rev. Rebecca Spanos, Pittsburgh; and Bishop Wantland.

The meeting ended with a minority statement from Bishop Wantland regretting the lack of time given to significant dialogue, a rushed agenda to be ready for the House of Bishops' meeting in September, and the loss of a responsible position by those who oppose women's ordination.

(The Rev.) JAMES B. SIMPSON