MPs' Threqaten They Will Force Church To Allow Women Bishops

By Toby Cohen  The Church of England Newspaper  July 4, 2008

IF the Church does not scrap its discriminatory laws against women, and allow them to become full Bishops, the Government will force them to, according to Labour and Conservative MPs.

At a press conference hosted by Watch (Women and the Church) at Westminster Abbey last Monday, chair Christina Rees read a letter by Conservative MP Robert Key: "I can guarantee that if Synod sends us a Measure that discriminates against women and seeks legal exemption from our well established law against discrimination it will certainly be challenged and probably rejected.

"I pray that Synod will not even try going down that path, but will accept the advice of the House of Bishops."

It received the support of Labour MPs Chris Bryant and Ann Cryer, and also Baroness Elspeth Howe, one of the first People's Peers. The parliamentarians saw this as the first step towards levying anti-discrimination law on other religions, with Ms Cryer announcing her plan to oblige mosques to admit women as readily as they do men.

On the other side of the debate, pressure was being piled on by Forward in Faith who published an open letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, from 1,333 clergy scared that the Act of Synod could be repealed.

"Should the Church of England indeed go ahead with the ordination of women to the episcopate, without at the same time making provision which offers us real ecclesial integrity and security, many of us will be thinking very hard about the way ahead.

"We will inevitably be asking whether we can, in conscience, continue to minister as bishops, priests and deacons in the Church of England which has been our home."

Although they continue by saying "we do not write this in a spirit of making threats or throwing down gauntlets," they add: "our Graces will know that the cost of such a choice would be both spiritual and material."

The Dean of Southwark, the Very Rev Colin Slee, dismissed this threat: "First it's rubbish because if they were going to do that, they would have had the 14 years since we ordained women as priests in which to do it and it's very curious it's taken them all that time to make their mind up.

"Second, it's rubbish because it's simply being used as a threat, in the same scaremongering way they did last time.

Third, the evidence of those that did leave last time is that a very, very substantial proportion has returned to the Church of England... the haemorrhage never occurred, and this is exactly the same tactic and that bluff needs to be called."

The concern for those opposed to admitting women to the episcopate this time, including the 11 bishops who signed the open letter, is that they may no longer benefit from the protection offered by the Act of Synod. The Act has allowed those who disagree with the ordination of women not to work with them. Many would therefore feel forced to leave and hope to continue their ministry within the Roman Catholic Church.

Ruth McCurry of the Group for Rescinding the Act of Synod, said: "If I may be pragmatic, and as a lay person one can be pragmatic, the Roman Catholic Church has a lack of clergy and we have unemployed clergy, so I can't quite see why this is regarded as a bad thing."

The vice chair of Inclusive Church, The Rev Philip Chester, said: "We can't be held hostage as a Church. The fact people may leave the Church is regrettable, but there are plenty of people who are put off coming into the Church right now by the line we're taking, and I suspect that's more than will leave."