Church backs women bishops
2006-07-08 18:21
London - The Church of England has voted to ordain women as bishops, although it could be years before the first woman bishop is named.
The English church has ordained women as priests for a decade. One in six parish priests is a woman.
At their synod in the northern English city of York on Saturday, the three "houses" of laity, priests and bishops each voted overwhelmingly in favour of a motion that declared ordaining women bishops compatible with church teaching.
But while the vote resolves the theological question, the church must still amend its rules, said a spokesperson for the synod, a process that requires a two-thirds majority vote and could take years.
Opponents of woman bishops are holding out for compromise measures, like a proposal that would allow conservative parishes to secede from a woman-run diocese.
The issue is one of several that has pitted traditionalists against liberalisers within the world's 77-million-strong Anglican communion.
'It's a waste of able women'
Most church leaders say that as long as women can be priests they deserve to be able to reach the top ranks.
"We are the only profession that doesn't have equality of opportunity," said Canon Patience Purchas, a retired church worker who has campaigned for women to be made bishops. "It's a waste of some very able women."
But conservatives say the 12 apostles of Jesus were all men and there is no precedent for women as bishops.
"The bible insists that both at home and in the church there are differences between the role of men and women," said Rod Thomas, spokesperson for the evangelical group Reform.
"They are equal in every respect in terms of status and salvation, but their roles are supposed to be carried out differently."
He said opponents were resigned to the likelihood that women would become bishops, but were hoping further debate would accommodate parishes that rejected the change.
Communion threatened to split
But many supporters of women bishops say they would rather wait a few more years than agree to such a compromise.
"You can't have a church where people are allowed not to recognise the authority of some bishops," said Purchas. "The church needs another division like a hole in the head."
Anglicans in Canada, the United States and New Zealand already have women bishops. Other Anglican churches in the developing world do not allow women as priests.
The Church of England has special status among Anglican churches because its head, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is the spiritual leader of the Anglican communion worldwide.
Were a woman to become archbishop, other churches might quit.
The divide between conservative and liberal Anglicans has already threatened to split the communion over homosexuality, since a US church named an openly gay bishop and Canadian priests began blessing same sex marriages.