A Liberal Member Of Synod Explains His No Vote On Women Bishops

PROTECTIONS FOR CONSERVATIVES WERE "INSUFFICIENT"

November 21, 2012

By Tom Sutcliffe

voted for women priests in 1992 and I am in principle keen that we should have women bishops in the Church of England. But I voted against the Measure being proposed for final approval yesterday. I had two main reasons for voting no.

The Provision is not sufficient

It simply is not true that it made appropriate provisions for the two minorities of less than a third of Church members who cannot accept the ordination or consecration of women as being consistent with their understanding of scripture and tradition. It may well be that traditionalist Anglo-Catholics could have lived awkwardly with the Measure as proposed had it got through. But conservative evangelicals would have been severely affected and in an impossible position. THE REST

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CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN CRISIS: ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY ATTACKS MEMBERS FOR VOTING AGAINST WOMEN BISHOPS

The Archbishop of Canterbury has launched a scathing attack on those within his own church who voted down legislation to approve women bishops accusing them of being "unrealistic".

In an impassioned speech at the General Synod this morning that vividly illustrates the depth of the current crisis facing his organisation, Dr Rowan Williams admitted that the Church of England loses credibility every day it fails to approve women bishops.

GETRELIGION: ON WOMEN BISHOPS: WHO VOTED "NO" AND WHY?

To the shock of legions of mainstream reporters, the Church of England fell just short of approving the long-debated step of raising women to the Anglican episcopate.

The issue that seems to have some reporters stumped, a bit, is why the laypeople who cast these votes didn't go along with this latest evolution in Anglican orders. Take, for example, the PRETTY SOLID REPORT FROM REUTERS, as offered by "The Huffington Post". Here are two summary passages that contain the key material...

ALBERT MOHLER: THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND VOTES AGAINST WOMEN BISHOPS - WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

"This is a train crash," said one frustrated priest. Yesterday was a decisive day in the history of the Church of England, but it was also a deeply divisive day. After 37 years of controversy and turmoil, the church's General Synod turned down a proposal to consecrate women as bishops. The proposal required a two-thirds majority in all three houses of the General Synod in order to pass, and it failed to receive that vote among the laity...

Reference: invocation-rituals.blogspot.com