ENGLAND: Canterbury, York to propose amendments to women bishops legislation
Episcopal News Service. June 21, 2010 [062110-02]
ENS staff
The archbishops of Canterbury and York have "signaled their intention" to propose amendments to draft legislation on women becoming bishops in the Church of England. The amendments would preserve a female bishop's episcopal authority while providing an alternative for those who are "unable to accept the new situation," according to a June 21 press release from Lambeth Palace.
The amendments "seek to give effect to the idea of a 'co-ordinate' jurisdiction" in which the jurisdiction of the diocesan bishop "remains intact" while provision is made for another bishop to provide episcopal oversight for those who oppose female bishops, the Lambeth release said.
"We want as many people as possible to feel that there is good news for them in this process, and we hope that what we are suggesting may help secure the broadest degree of support for the legislation without further delaying the process of scrutiny and decision," the archbishops said in the release.
The full text of the press release is available here.
General Synod voted in February 2009 to send a draft measure on women bishops to a revision committee so it could rework the legislation.
All 470 members of General Synod will have the opportunity to amend the reworked legislation, called a measure, clause-by-clause. A measure is a piece of legislation that, once passed by the General Synod, requires approval by the British Parliament. The draft measure and a report from the revision committee are available here.
The archbishops' amendments would mean that two bishops could exercise episcopal functions in the same jurisdiction, while ensuring that a "Code of Practice would contain guidelines for effective co-ordination ... so as to avoid duplication or conflict in the exercise of episcopal ministry."
The archbishops said they believe the amendments would "secure two crucial things: that women ordained to the episcopate will enjoy exactly the same legal rights as men within the structures of the Church of England and that there will be no derogation of the rights of any diocesan bishop, male or female; and that those who request oversight from a nominated bishop under a diocesan scheme will be able to recognize in them an episcopal authority received from the whole church rather than through delegation or transfer from an individual diocesan."
The press release noted that "the amendments … will be brief and will not involve a radical rewriting of the draft legislation."
The archbishops shared the view of the church's House of Bishops, which in a May 18 statement said that it sees "no grounds for believing that the issues with which the church is grappling will become significantly easier to resolve with the passage of time."
Assuming all stages of the legislative process proceed without delay, "it will be at least another two years before the mind of the Church of England can be determined at the final approval stage," the bishops said in May. Since the measure also would require parliamentary approval, the first woman bishop could not be consecrated until at least 2014.
The Lambeth press release noted that if the archbishops' amendments are carried "the way would still be clear to refer the legislation to diocesan synods if the Revision Stage is successfully completed in July.
"We are convinced that the small but significant changes we are proposing will make it easier for the statutory framework and Code of Practice emerging from the legislative process to create a climate in which mutual trust and common flourishing across the Church of England can be nourished, in a situation where for the first time, all orders of ordained ministry are open to women and men alike."
The Church of England opened the priesthood to women in November 1992, five years after women were first ordained to the diaconate.