Are they serious?
John Shepley reflects on the debate in the Church in Wales
and wonders whether the proponents of women bishops are
really serious in their expressed desire to introduce them
W
hat concessions are proponents of the ordi- the attempt to act as a unified body, choosing instead
nation of women as priests and bishops pre- to function according to the idea of ‘local options’.
pared to make in order to achieve their end? Somewhere in this process the need for diachronic
recent events in wales have brought that question to koinonia – communion with the Church in every age
the fore. The archbishop of wales, Dr Barry Morgan, – is lost, just at the time when the world is losing its
made it clear through speeches and newspaper arti- bearings and needs a persuasive common witness to
cles before the Bill was brought before the Governing the saving power of the Gospel’ [cf. rom 1:18–23].
Body that he opposed any formal provision for oppo- Provision – statutory provision – which safeguards
nents. it was even widely rumoured that if amend- the integrity of those who oppose these soi-disant pro-
ments making such provision were passed, then the phetic actions, preserves rather than disturbs the tra-
House of Bishops would withdraw the legislation and ditional ecclesiology. it makes a return to the practice
he sees this
await a more favourable opportunity. of the Undivided Church at some future time possible
it was a high-risk strategy. will there ever be a time, and achievable.
change as
in the foreseeable future, when opposition will have archbishop Morgan is no doubt sincere in his sin-
dwindled to such an extent that provision for those of gle-minded pursuit of what he supposes to be just and
essential but
the original integrity will be unnecessary? right. But he and those who think like him need to ask
in England, it has to be said, enthusiasts for the new themselves serious questions about the implications
when he
ministry have been eager to make concessions; so of their position. are they really so sure that they are
much so that opponents have viewed their provisions right – that they carry the whole burden of history; has driven
with suspicion and sometimes downright antipathy. that this is the necessary action and this is the appro-
The act of Synod nevertheless provided space for the priate time? So much of their argument is contingent.
out those of
development of an ecclesial life for those who could it bases itself on the credibility in contemporary soci-
not accept the innovation, which has proved flex- ety that such a change promises. But these have more
quiet fidelity
ible, extendable and acceptable. its quasi-legal status often than not been disappointed in the past. who
proved sufficiently robust to withstand the inevitable now remembers, without acute embarrassment, con-
where
attacks on its integrity. fident claims that a revised liturgy would draw in the
wales, from the beginning, took a different course. disaffected and the unchurched?
will the
Had it not been for a last-minute intervention by the women’s ordination, moreover, has incontrovert-
then Bishop of Monmouth, rowan williams, there ibly been shown to be linked to a wider agenda of
Archbishop
might have been no provision to speak of for oppo- ‘inclusion’, which will generate further inevitable divi-
nents. and even then it was a ‘grace and favour’ pro- sions among Christians. anglican Communion con-
find allies in
vision with little or no legal backing. Barry Morgan is cerns about the blessing of same-sex unions and the
merely returning to the drawing board; and, inciden- ordination of gay bishops can now be seen to be part
tally, bringing wales into line with other provinces of and parcel of the ethical a priori stance which was first
the defence
the Communion who have similarly made no formal adopted by the movement for women priests.
concessions. what are we to make of all this? Barry Morgan’s heroic posturings look very differ-
of what
The strong suit of the Morganites (and the ent when they are seen as ensuring the exclusion from
Christina rees tendency in England) is that to the Church of their birth and baptism of priests and
he himself
limit in any way the jurisdiction and competence laity whose strong suit (as they see it) is obedience
of women bishops would be to deform episcopacy to Scripture as the Christian centuries have unani-
holds to be
itself. a bishop is a bishop is a bishop, the argument mously interpreted it. How does he measure that loss
goes. to create a cadre of second-class bishops (and both morally and numerically it is very great) essential?
whose writ runs only among those who like that against the putative gains which women bishops are
sort of thing would be to compromise the Catholic supposed to bring with them?
credentials of the Church – and defeat the egalitar- Like George Carey before him, Morgan sees this
ian objectives of the campaign. change as essential, in our modern world, to enliven
of course they have a point. No one, least of all and defend the core doctrines of the faith. But when
opponents of women’s ordination, wants to do per- he has driven out those of quiet fidelity, where will
manent damage to Holy orders. But that, of course, is the archbishop find allies in the defence of what he
what women’s ordination has done. The recent words himself holds to be essential? The advocates of simple
of the Holy father at an ecumenical gathering in New legislation for women bishops with no legal provision
York, come immediately to mind: for opponents certainly have directness and clarity on
‘fundamental Christian beliefs and practices are their side: everything else is admittedly cluttered and
sometimes changed within communities by so-called complicated. But blindness to the wider implications
‘prophetic actions’ that are based on a hermeneutic of such a policy raises another, more serious question.
not always consonant with the datum of Scripture Do they, perhaps, hate opponents of women’s ordina-
and tradition. Communities consequently give up tion more than they want women bishops?
ND
May 2008
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newdirections
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