Russian church official reiterates 'no dialogue' with female bishop

Trier, Germany (ENI). The external relations' head of the Moscow Patriarchate has reiterated that Patriarch Kirill I of the Russian Orthodox Church will not take part in meetings with the newly-elected leader of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) as she is a female bishop. "Despite the fact that we do not recognise the Protestant church as a church, there had in the past been meetings between the chairperson of the EKD and the Patriarch. That is not possible anymore. The Patriarch cannot meet a woman bishop," Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk said in an interview with the German weekly magazine, Der Spiegel. [334 words, ENI-09-0992]

Statement from Vatican

From www.forwardinfaith.com

FiF UK
Statement from Vatican
Jul 8, 2008

We have regretfully learned of the Church of England vote to pave the way for the introduction of legislation which will lead to the ordaining of women to the Episcopacy.

The Catholic position on the issue was clearly expressed by Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II. Such a decision signifies a breaking away from the apostolic tradition maintained by all of the Churches since the first millennium, and therefore is a further obstacle for the reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Church of England.

This decision will have consequences on the future of dialogue, which had up until now born fruit, as Cardinal Kasper had clearly explained when he spoke on June 5 2006 to all of the bishops of the Church of England at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Cardinal has been invited once again to express the Catholic position at the next Lambeth Conference at the end of July.

Female bishops 'further obstacle' to unity says Australian bishop

Melbourne (ENI). The consecration of two female bishops in Australia's Anglican church has placed the spotlight on the implications of these developments for the promotion of unity between Anglicans and Roman Catholics. An Australian Catholic bishop has said the consecration in May of the two women - Kay Goldsworthy in Perth, and Barbara Darling in Melbourne - will increase obstacles to unity and reconciliation. In June 2006, the Vatican's top official for Christian unity, Cardinal Walter Kasper, told (Anglican) Church of England bishops that a decision to ordain women bishops would threaten the unity of Anglican bishops, and make full union with the Catholic Church "disappear into the far and ultimately unreachable distance". [421 words, ENI-08-0485]

ENI Online - www.eni.ch

Five hundred priests threaten to leave Anglican church over female bishops

London, Jun 17, 2008 / 02:16 pm (CNA).- The Times of London reported this week that the Anglican Church is facing a new crisis with 500 priests threatening to leave if women are ordained bishops.

The newspaper reported that the priests have said they would leave the Church if the proposal is approved at the next general synod scheduled for July of this year.

Many priests said they feel betrayed by the proposal, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams and Archbishop John Sentamu of York have responded by saying they would work for a compromise rather than allow female bishops, even though both are in favor of female clergy.

Fifteen provinces of the Anglican Communion have voted in favor of female bishops, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Central America, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa and the United States.

Church of England split warning over women bishops

Sunday, 15th June 2008. 6:07am

By: Matt Cresswell.

A SPLIT within the Church of England could be only weeks away as opposition to plans for women bishops expressed their anger at the plans.

The outcome of last month’s meeting of the House of Bishops is to be debated at General Synod next month. That will envisage a plan to provide ‘special arrangements’ for those unable as a matter of conviction to receive the ministry of women as bishops or priests. But the opponents fear the arrangements will not be enough.

One Synod member told ReligiousIntelligence.com that it was estimated that up to 10 per cent of the Church could feasibly start their own structures and consecrate their own bishops. Such a group would include Anglo-Catholics, conservative evangelicals and some charismatics.

This was revealed after details of the women bishops’ motion -- to be debated at the July Synod – were publicised this week. The motion – written by the House of Bishops – suggests a ‘code of practice’ which would mean the rescinding of the Episcopal Ministry Act of Synod 1993. Annulling this Act -- which promised provision for those opposed to women priests – is seen as a move which could split the Church of England.

The Synod member, who wishes to remain anonymous, said that passing the House of Bishops’ motion un-amended would be like “taking a wrecking ball to the Church of England”. He said Synod would be ‘bloody’ and that the House of Bishops needed to seriously re-think their position.

The proposed code of practice has not been received well by conservatives and Anglo-Catholics. One conservative Anglo-Catholic group, Forward in Faith, has said that a Code of Practice, or anything similar, is ‘unacceptable’. Others have said such a code is of no value at all.

A spokesman for the House of Bishops said: “Next month’s debates will, nevertheless, mark something of a watershed in that they will, for the first time, give the Synod the opportunity to come to a view on the underlying approach that it wishes to take to the legislation.”

He stressed that the motion at Synod was merely “a starting point for discussion.”

Three separate sessions are planned at Synod to allow members to ‘prayerfully discuss the options’ before being debated in full on the Monday afternoon. Forward in Faith, when asked whether they might form a new province with other disillusioned clergy declined to comment.

FiF UK reacts to Welsh vote

Forward in Faith notes the failure of the Bill for the ordination of women as bishops recently brought before the Governing Body of the Church in Wales. This was despite confident predictions to the contrary, and despite the unequivocal support given to the unamended legislation by the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan.

Many enthusiasts of the innovation in England had looked to Wales to give a lead – and many in Wales had hoped to pre-empt the English. Both parties need now to take stock. It is clear that the price of women bishops is clear and adequate provision for those whose obedience to scripture and to the Church’s two thousand year tradition prevents them from accepting the orders of ordained and consecrated women.

The recent Welsh experience will no doubt inform the minds of members of the General Synod as they gather in July to consider the recommendations of the Legislative Drafting Group chaired by the Bishop of Manchester.

Geoffrey Kirk
Secretary

A Statement by the Chairman of Credo Cymru

Apr 3, 2008

Commenting on the Governing Body of the Church in Wales’ decision on the Bill to enable women to be ordained as bishops the Reverend Alan Rabjohns, Chairman of Credo Cymru / Forward in Faith Wales, said today:

‘The extraordinary scenes at Lampeter yesterday have left many people reeling. Those in favour of the Bill must have thought that they had achieved their objective when the amendment recommended by the Select Committee which said that pastoral care for those unable to accept the provision would be provided by an assistant bishop was lost. But the substantive motion on the Bill in its final form was lost by three votes in the house of clergy and only four votes prevented it from failing in the house of laity too.

‘The reason for this is not hard to find. It is the result of trying prematurely to foreclose the period of reception and refusing to clarify the nature of the provision for opponents contained in the original bill, when the constitutional provision contained in the amended bill had been ruled out. This led to some of those who would not have voted against the Bill in the ordinary way of things to say that without even a modicum of fairness and justice they could not support it.

‘We should not be under any illusion that the issue has gone away; it will inevitably return. Let us hope that when it does so wiser counsels will prevail and the ‘experiment in internal ecumenism’ which began with the appointment of the first Provincial Assistant Bishop in 1996, and which has helped many of us to continue to play as full a part as possible in the Church of our land, will continue. In the meantime, we will continue to proclaim the full Gospel of Christ in season and out of season.’

Welsh Anglican priests vote 'no' on women bishops

ENI Online - www.eni.ch • 3 April 2008

London (ENI). Welsh Anglican clergy have narrowly voted against a measure, supported unanimously by their bishops, to allow women to be appointed to the episcopate. At a meeting of the Church in Wales synod in Lampeter on 2 April, the bill to provide for the ordination of women bishops failed to get a necessary two-thirds majority in one of the three chambers of the church's governing body. The House of Laity backed the bill by 52 votes to 19 but the House of Clergy only voted 27 to 18 in favour, three votes short of the majority required in all three chambers for the measure to become canon law. [418 words, ENI-08-0273]

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Women bishops Bill falls in Wales

Apr 2, 2008

The Governing Body of the Church in Wales, meeting in Lampeter, has this evening voted down by just three votes the Bill to permit women to be ordained as bishops in the Church in Wales. Voting figures so far available indicate that the laity voted in favour by 52 : 19, and that the clergy voted in favour 27 : 18, thus failing to achieve the necessary majority in the latter house.

Comment from Credo Cymru and from Forward in Faith will follow.

Women bishops in Wales

The following letter is published in today's Church Times; you can read the accompanying report here.

From the Revd Alan Rabjohns and others

Sir, — We, being 101 clerics and ordinands, both male and female, in the Church in Wales, write to express our concern about the Bill to allow women to ordained as bishop, which is about to be considered by a Select Committee of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales.

When the Bill was published in July, we learned with dismay that specific requests to the Bench of Bishops for proper provision to enable those who in conscience cannot accept the ordination of women to the episcopate to remain as honoured members of the Church in Wales had been denied.

Instead, Clause 2 offers only a vague, non-defined indication of pastoral care and support from the same Bench of Bishops. Clause 3 leaves open the possibility of disciplinary action for not accepting the novelty; and the abandonment of exemptions under the civil law would leave us open to prosecution.

If the Bill were passed in its present form and unamended to provide constitutional provision, it would make it even more difficult for us serving as ordained clergy.

While holding them in our prayers at this difficult time, we respectfully ask the Select Committee and Governing Body to consider pastorally and seriously amendments placed before them to make the Bill able to promote the unity and peace of the Church in Wales, through which we all wish to continue to serve Christ in this land.

ALAN RABJOHNS
St Saviour’s Vicarage
115 Splott Road
Cardiff CF24 2BY

and

The Revd Colin Amos
The Revd Keith Andrews
The Revd Deacon Mark Zorab
The Revd Graham Canham
The Revd David Davies
The Revd Philip Wyn Davies
The Revd Canon Keith Dennison
The Revd Roy Doxsey
The Revd Jeffrey Gainer
The Revd Michael Gollop
The Revd Michael Gill
The Revd John Hughes
The Revd Chancellor Peter Jackson
The Revd Andrew Holmes
The Revd Canon Tudor Hughes
The Revd Hilary Jalland
The Revd Canon Peter Jones
The Revd Michael Keulemans
The Revd Graham Lloyd
The Revd Christopher Lewis-Jenkins
The Revd Edward Matthias-Jones
The Revd Mark Mesley
The Revd Glyn Price
The Revd Colin Sanderson
The Revd David Reed
The Revd Robert Rowland
The Revd David Sheen
The Revd Brian Taylor
The Revd David Walters
The Revd Ifan Williams
The Revd Canon Peter Williams
The Revd Robert Parrish
The Revd Dean Atkins
The Revd Ben Andrews
The Revd Andrew Tweed
The Revd Irving Hamer
The Revd Canon Graham Francis
The Revd Hugh Linn
The Revd Mark Williams
The Revd Canon Harold Clarke
The Ven. Martin Williams
The Revd Laurie Way
The Revd Keith Lerry
The Revd Melville Jones
The Revd Richard Williams
The Revd Fred Mudge
The Revd Kenneth Jordan
The Revd Gwyn Lloyd Jones
The Revd Paul Newsum
The Revd Malcolm Lane
The Revd John Workman
The Revd Canon John Davies
The Revd Robert Davies
The Revd Deacon Betty Butler
The Revd Roger Williams
The Revd David Allen
The Revd Roy Cale
The Revd David Way
The Revd Barry Davies
The Revd Graham Horwood
The Revd T J Williams
The Revd Jack Buttimore
The Revd John Andrew
The Revd Chancellor Anthony Williams
The Revd Christopher Darvill
The Revd Leonard Parry-Jones
The Revd Tom Foster
The Revd Tom Wood
The Revd Haydn England-Simon
The Revd Graham Hollowood
The Revd Ronald Wiffen
The Revd Wayne Coughlin
The Revd Canon David Hathaway
The Revd Ian Galt
The Revd Dr John Plessis
The Revd Gary Powell
The Revd Bill Field
The Revd Ron Evans
The Revd Alan Hunter
The Revd George Trimby
The Revd Gareth Griffiths
The Revd Deacon Bryn Parry-Jones
The Revd Terry Doherty
The Revd Bernard Sharp
The Revd Steven Green
The Revd Clifford Bennett
The Revd Colin Sutton
The Venerable Islwyn John
Mrs Sarah Gillard-Faulkner
The Revd Patrick Jenkins
The Revd Andrew Jones
The Revd Bryan Hall
The Revd David Matthews
The Revd David Dredge
The Revd Charles Billington
The Revd Bernard Sixtus
Mr Andrew Thomas
The Revd William Price-Johns
The Revd Anthony Bailey
The Revd Paul Gerard

Heiresses

For those of you trying to rationalize Vicky Gene, Katharine and other female clergy:

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. ~2 Tim. 4:3–4

Heresy -- the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and Catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same; apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith; schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him" (CCC 2089).

More on the Ordination of Women

Jesus did not ordain any women. All of the apostles were men.

I have heard the argument that he did this because this was the culture of his time. So I’m guessing these people are saying Jesus was sexist. Or perhaps they are saying Jesus didn’t have the foresight to know what culture would be like in our highly enlightened times. Both of these arguments are preposterous. Jesus turned the world on its collective head and he was crucified for it. Did Jesus not select women to lessen the pain of his suffering or to take the easy way out? I think you can answer this question for yourself.

If a woman could be a priest, wouldn’t it have made sense for Jesus to have taken his mother? In an earthly sense it is her body and her blood. Carrying this a step farther, women give the world life, so why wouldn’t all priests be women.

There were female priests in Jesus’ time; Judaism however did not practice this. So are the progressives making the argument that Jesus just didn’t think about female priests?

Women have other roles in the church. Women were the first to spread the word that “Christ has risen.”

The substance of the sacrament cannot be changed. Baptism is by water, the body comes from bread, and priests acting in the person of the male Christ, must obviously be male. Sorry to break the news to our liberal friends, but an invalid sacrament is an invalid sacrament.

Men and woman are equal in the eyes of God, but not the same. Likewise no one has the right to a sacrament; it’s through the Jesus that we are given the sacrament.

Q: But the early church had female priests, right?

A: Women belonged to orders of virgins, widows, and deaconesses which were the earliest roots of our modern nuns. Gnosticism, that allowed women to become priestesses, so if anyone wants to follow these examples, good luck.

The Holy See on the Ordination of Women

St Augustine of Hippo and St John Damascene refer to female priesthood as heresy.

Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure too rejected the female priesthood.

John Paul II, echoed the words of his predecessor Pius XII when he stated that the church has no authority to change that which is given by Christ. Sacred Tradition will admit no change.

If Anglicans are truly part of one, holy, catholic and apostolic church as we profess, we cannot only choose the mandates from the Holy See that we feel are modern and politically correct.

Head of the household, head of the church

Too many times scripture is twisted to justify men placing women in a subservient role, with no requirements or consequences for the men. If you read Ephesians 5:21-33 without chopping it up, you’ll see man is not let off the hook in the family relationship. The priest too has an incredible responsibility as the head of his congregation.

Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.

As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands.

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.

For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."

This mystery is a profound one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church; however, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.Ephesians 5:21-33

The Apostolic Tradition

Now a bishop must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, dignified, hospitable, an apt teacher, no drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, and no lover of money. 1 Tim. 3:2-3

This is why I left you in Crete, that you might amend what was defective, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you, if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of being profligate or insubordinate. Titus 1:5-6

Requirements for Ordination

God is clear when speaking to Moses regarding the requirements of the Priesthood. God made man and woman equal, but not interchangeable. We have different roles as well as different consequences.

Admission to the priesthood required a male descendant of Aaron without disease or bodily defect, it involved total separation from the obligations of war and farming, and it demanded conformity to ritual, vestment and purity standards set out by God.

Hierarchy is not inequality. Jesus Said, “I and the Father are one." John 10:30; and “You heard me say to you, 'I go away, and I will come to you.' If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I.” John 14:28. Again god gave us roles.

The justification for the ordination of women is never scripturally based. Instead arguments are made for rights or for pragmatic reasons.

A Statement from Bishop Jack Iker: on the Election of Mrs Schori

Diocese of Fort Worth

on the Election of the New Presiding Bishop
June 18, 2006

In a rather surprising election today, the House of Bishops chose Katharine Jefferts Schori to become the next Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. When first nominated, she was widely regarded as a “dark horse candidate” and as “the token woman” on the slate. I for one never expected that she could be elected.

Her election signals a continuation of the policies of the outgoing Presiding Bishop, namely support for the ordination of practicing homosexuals and the blessing of same-sex unions, practices which have divided the Episcopal Church, impaired our relationship with a majority of other Provinces, and brought the Anglican Communion to the breaking point. The fact that her ordination as a bishop is not recognized or accepted by a large portion of the Communion introduces an additional element of division and impairment. When she becomes the first female primate of the Anglican Communion, it remains to be seen as to how she will be regarded by the other 37 primates, the vast majority of whom come from Provinces where women cannot be elected as bishops.

In one sense, we should not be surprised, at all, for this is The Episcopal Church, which takes pride in being first with every new innovation: women priests and bishops, the blessing of same-sex unions, the election of the first gay bishop in 2003, and now the selection of the first female primate in 2006. One wonders what might be next.