Even the Devils Believe

Thinking Anglicans is reporting that nearly half of the women clergy in England have signed a forceful statement of support for the consecration of women bishops — provided further "flying bishop" hedges not be attached:

We believe that it should be possible for women to be consecrated as bishops, but not at any price. The price of legal “safeguards” for those opposed is simply too high, diminishing not just the women concerned, but the catholicity, integrity and mission of the episcopate and of the Church as a whole. We cannot countenance any proposal that would, once again, enshrine and formalise discrimination against women in legislation. With great regret, we would be prepared to wait longer, rather than see further damage done to the Church of England by passing discriminatory laws. In this, we support the recent principled stand taken by the Archbishop and Bishops of the Church in Wales.

It seems to me that trying to concoct messy schemes of episcopal visitors is a non-starter if the C of E is going to begin consecrating women bishops. Female priests are already a bridge too far for conservative Anglo-Catholics, because hopes of corporate reunion with Rome are basically over. So there is already tremendous tension there. Trying to craft schemes to keep everyone happy just denies these deep differences — and, from a pro-WO perspective, denies that female bishops are in fact bishops for the whole Church instead of just a slice of it.

There is a corollary to this in the Independent Catholic world. As I have written before, when we try to argue on the basis of Dominus Iesus or other documents that our orders should be considered valid under Roman canon law, we've essentially abandoned our strongly argued case for women priests and bishops, who have contributed strongly and increasingly to passing on the apostolic faith in our movement, through teaching and the laying on of hands. In Rome's opinion, no man could receive the apostolic priesthood or the episcopate through a woman's hands, rendering all those arguments about validity pointless. We should be willing to stand on our own merits, not play canonical games with Roman documents.

Difficult though it may be to admit it, on either side, this does seem to be a communion-breaking issue. I applaud my sister priests who wrote this statement, and hope the Church of England joins those catholic churches around the world that teach that women can be ordained to episcopate — rather than crafting a hedge that leaves its teaching open to interpretation.