Row erupts over last minute amendments to women bishops legislation
23rd May 2012
Supporters of women bishops have rounded on senior leaders within the Church of England after they inserted last minute amendments to proposed legislation that will allow female clergy to hold the highest levels of office alongside their male colleagues.
Proposals to break down the church’s final glass ceiling are expected to be passed later this summer when the General Synod meets to vote on the final legislation. It is the culmination of more than a decade of tortuous wrangling between a majority who support women bishops and a minority of traditionalists, conservatives and Anglo-Catholics who are theologically opposed to women holding senior ecclesiastical positions.
Following elections last year 42 of the 44 dioceses across England and Wales voted in favour of creating women bishops without any major concessions to accommodate for conservative demands.
However in a tense closed door meeting in York this week the Synod’s House of Bishops made two final amendments to the final proposed legislation which will be debated later this summer.
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Row erupts over last minute amendments to women bishops legislation
23rd May 2012
Supporters of women bishops have rounded on senior leaders within the Church of England after they inserted last minute amendments to proposed legislation that will allow female clergy to hold the highest levels of office alongside their male colleagues.
Proposals to break down the church’s final glass ceiling are expected to be passed later this summer when the General Synod meets to vote on the final legislation. It is the culmination of more than a decade of tortuous wrangling between a majority who support women bishops and a minority of traditionalists, conservatives and Anglo-Catholics who are theologically opposed to women holding senior ecclesiastical positions.
Following elections last year 42 of the 44 dioceses across England and Wales voted in favour of creating women bishops without any major concessions to accommodate for conservative demands.
However in a tense closed door meeting in York this week the Synod’s House of Bishops made two final amendments to the final proposed legislation which will be debated later this summer.
By Jerome Taylor
Read full article on independent.co.uk