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We want women bishops, say C of E members

An overwhelming majority of churchgoers want to see women priests appointed as bishops, according to a new survey that will reopen one of the biggest divisions within the Anglican Church.

An overwhelming majority of churchgoers want to see women priests appointed as bishops, according to a new survey that will reopen one of the biggest divisions within the Anglican Church.

It shows that 80 per cent of worshippers are in favour of female bishops, despite fierce opposition from conservative sections of the clergy.

Nearly 500 Anglican vicars have so far left the church in protest at female ordinations and according to the conservative Forward in Faith grouping, that would double if women were allowed to became bishops. At present, canon law forbids it.

The scale of the opposition was illustrated by yesterday’s special Pentecost service at the London Arena attended by 10,000 opponents of women priests and 30 bishops including the Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope.

The new survey will not be formally published until later in the year, but the preliminary findings are bound to feature at next month’s meeting of the General Synod, the church’s ruling body, where advocates of female clergy will press the church to start the process of approving female bishoprics.

Christina Rees, the Synod member who commissioned the survey, said its findings showed that the opposition will be soon be overcome.

“There is no doubt that there will be women bishops in the church within the next 10 years. The church will be ready,” she said. “Parts of the church were ready for women bishops when they said yes to women priests in 1992.”

The Church of England ordained its first female priests in 1992. There are now 2,000, forming a fifth of the clergy. It recently acquired its first female dean, the Very Rev Vivienne Faull, the church’s highest-ranking woman who is now the Provost of Leicester Cathedral, and two archdeacons. The survey, which covered 1,250 worshippers, also found that nine out of 10 now accept women priests.

The Rev Caroline Baston works as the director of ordinands for the Diocese of Winchester. She said: “There are some misogynists in the church as there are in any walk of life, but I don’t think on the whole that it is misogynistic as an organisation. On the whole women have been well received. The theological battle has been won.”

However, Dr Hope, has already made it clear that he would resign if women were consecrated as bishops during his time in office.

His uncompromising stance bolsters the traditionalists, who would like to see the establishment of a breakaway church, or Third Province, if women bishops were ordained.

The director of Forward in Faith, Stephen Parkinson, said: “For some who lived with the ordination of women priests, women bishops would be a step too far. It could well be the same number that would leave. But more bishops would go if there were women bishops.”

The issue is due to be debated at this year’s General Synod session in York in July where the Archdeacon of Tonbridge, the Ven Judith Rose, will ask the Synod to look at the issue and report back.

The retirement of the Right Rev Eric Kemp from the Chichester diocese is another likely flashpoint, with opponents warning of a revolt in the parishes if a supporter of women priests is appointed to replace him as bishop.

The Synod debate is set against the appointment of women to senior roles in other churches and faiths.

The Methodist Church is due to discuss the possibility of appointing bishops at its conference later this month. If it did so, two women would automatically become bishops, as they are currently senior leaders within the church.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews is set to elect a woman to the post of president for the first time in its 240-year history next month.

*Churches across England were taking over football grounds, racecourses, the Millennium Dome and even a bus station this weekend to celebrate the millennium. An estimated 500,000 people will take part in more than 200 public events around the country in the Pentecost 2000 festival.

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