Women bishops - nothing new in the innovation?

When the General Synod legislated in 1993 for the ordination of women as priests, it changed the Church of England in more ways than one.

Most obviously, it introduced women into orders in which they could exercise new sacramental and leadership rôles. Just as importantly, however, it allowed for disagreement with what had been done and enshrined this in the enabling legislation.

This provision was effected at two levels. One was in the parliamentary Measure, which contained opt-out clauses for parishes which did not want to receive the sacramental ministry of women or which did not want a woman as an incumbent, priest in charge or team vicar (Resolutions A and B).

The other was the passing of an Act of Synod which allowed those same parishes to request from their Diocesan bishop, if he himself would ordain women, that episcopal ministry be provided by someone who did not accept the ordination of women (the so-called Resolution C).

In the present situation, therefore, two important points must be borne in mind. The first is that these provisions were an integral part of the package, not — despite some people’s opinions to the contrary — an appendage. There were undoubtedly people in Synod who only voted for the Measure because it contained Resolutions A and B, and it is equally undoubted that parliament accepted the Measure because of these provisions and because of the terms and conditions of the Episcopal Ministry Act of Synod.

Secondly, there was no sunset clause on these provisions. On the contrary, as the Manchester Report recently observed, they were offered indefinitely — for as long as people would require them. This was the general understanding at the time, and that has consequences.

On the one hand, it meant that people who had misgivings about the ordination of women as priests nevertheless felt there was a continuing place for them in the Church of England. This is one reason why the take-up on the settlement package for those who felt they had to leave the church was so low. There was sufficient unity amongst evangelicals and sufficient numerical strength amongst Anglo-Catholics to persuade doubters in both groupings that they could continue as loyal (if not entirely contented) Anglicans.

The phrase that described this situation was ‘a period of reception’. This emphatically did not, however, indicate ‘a time during which the Church would get used to what had happened after which dissent would no longer be expected’.

Rather, as Rowan Williams has himself observed, it meant an opportunity to test whether what had been put in place was right or wrong. Moreover, as he pointed out, the Church of England is still in what is formally acknowledged to be “a time of discernment and reception”.

This has very important implications both for opponents and for supporters of the consecration of women as bishops.

First, it means that everyone who has remained in or joined the Church of England since 1993, or has been ordained into its orders, ought to know that they have accepted the existence of ‘two integrities’ and indeed the ongoing provisionality of women’s ordination.

This is vital to recognize, because it is being said that anyone ordained since that date ought to accept both the ordination of women and that there is no place for dissent from this.

That is not (wholly) true — and in any case cuts both ways.

It is true that anyone who has remained in or joined the Church of England during the last eighteen years must accept that it is a church that ordains women. That is a simple fact, and to that extent they must themselves be committed to the ‘two integrities’ approach.

It is also true, however, anyone who has remained in or joined the Church of England since 1993, or entered its orders, did so knowing that the Church of England did not require anyone to accept the ordination of women, and, moreover, that the Church of England had sought to include opponents in its ranks on the understanding that they were full members of that church, entitled to operate at every level of its ministry up to and including diocesan bishop. (That the latter has been observed mostly in the breach does not negate the fact that the principle exists — though it does rather mitigate against the idea that the church can work on the basis of ‘codes of practice’.)

What this means for the present round of legislation, however, is that the status quo established in 1993 still prevails: the Church has deliberately included people who take contrary views on the ordination of women and they themselves have willingly been part of it.

This, then, has consequences for what ought to happen next, for when the Church agreed to ordain women, it recognized that the ministry of some of its clergy would not be acceptable to all of its members. Now that it is about to consecrate women as bishops, it faces the same problem because it has continued to operate on the same principles enshrined in the 1993 legislation.

There are, therefore, only two logical ways forward. The first is to settle the debate about women’s ordination first and to end the ‘period of reception’ either by agreeing that all must accept the ordination of women or (which is, of course, improbable) by agreeing to abandon the project and return to the pre-1993 position. Such a move would be unwelcome for a number of reasons, not least that it would delay the consecration of women bishops and embroil the church in virtually a sectarian battle. No one in their right mind would want this!

The second option, however, which the church seems tacitly to accept, is that as in 1993 provision must be made for both viewpoints. The problem, of course, is that the actual legislation on the table would only do this in a limited way which denies the reality.

One of the arguments put forward by those who insist on this limited provision is that the bishop must be allowed to be a ‘real’ bishop, whose ministry must therefore apply of necessity to all those within the diocese.

The problem with this argument, however, is that in 1993 the Church of England decided that a priest would not henceforth be someone whose ministry would necessarily apply to everyone within the church. This was essential to enabling the ordination of women to take place and it was accepted as part of the provision.

This was, as we have observed, an innovation, but it was one with which the church was formally prepared to live, and it was something which everyone in the church has therefore had to accept since 1993.

Now that we are considering the consecration of women as bishops, it is time to consider also the logical extension not only of women’s ordination but of the innovation that went with it — that the church must allow for those who could not accept the ministry of women bishops, even whilst all parties accept that this is a church which consecrates women.

In other words, just as we have had a new model of priestly ministry, we need a new model of episcopal ministry. And specifically, just as we have had a ‘voluntarist’ model of priestly ministry in this regard, so we must have a ‘voluntarist’ model of episcopal ministry.

This is something which the Anglo-Catholic opponents of women bishops have long recognized and advocated. (The evangelicals have been much slower to realize its importance.) What I am arguing here is that it is something which the supporters of women bishops should also recognize unless they wish to rewrite the history of the past eighteen years.

The Church of England was able to introduce the ordination of women because it was prepared to change its understanding of the acceptablility of its orders — and all those who are now members of the Church of England ought to acknowledge that reality. Whether they are enthusiasts for, or opponents of, women’s ordination and consecration, they have opted into a church which has, out of practical necessity, modified its understanding of ministry.

That it needs to do so again with regard to women bishops may be unwelcome to some, but it ought not to be a surprise.

John Richardson
20 May 2010

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