21 May 2012
The House of Bishops of the
Church of England today concluded its consideration of the draft
legislation to enable women to be consecrated as bishops. It agreed
that the legislation should be returned to the General Synod for
final approval.
The House of Bishops had power
to amend the draft legislation in such manner "as it thinks fit".
It made two amendments to the draft Measure.
The House accepted an
amendment making it clear that the use of the word "delegation" (in
Clause 2 of the draft Measure) relates to the legal authority which
a male bishop acting under a diocesan scheme would have and was
distinct from the authority to exercise the functions of the office
of bishop that that person derived from his ordination. For
example, when another bishop ordains someone to the priesthood he
needs permission to do from the bishop of the diocese
("delegation"), but the power to ordain derives from his
consecration as a bishop. The amendment also makes clear that
delegation should not be taken as divesting the diocesan bishop of
any of his or her authority or functions.
The House also accepted an
amendment to express in the Measure one of the three principles
which the House had agreed in December (see notes). This amendment
adds to the list of matters on which guidance will need to be given
in the Code of Practice that the House of Bishops will be required
to draw up and promulgate under the Measure. It will now need to
include guidance on the selection by the diocesan bishop of the
male bishops and priests who will minister in parishes whose
parochial church council (PCC) has issued a Letter of Request under
the Measure. That guidance will be directed at ensuring that the
exercise of ministry by those bishops and priests will be
consistent with the theological convictions as to the consecration
or ordination of women which prompted the issuing of the Letter of
Request. Thus, the legislation now addresses the fact that for some
parishes a male bishop or male priest is necessary but not
sufficient.
The House rejected more far-
reaching amendments that would have changed the legal basis on
which bishops would exercise authority when ministering to parishes
unable to receive the ministry of female bishops.
It also rejected amendments
giving statutory expression to the other two principles (see
notes) that it agreed in December, judging that it would be
better to leave them to be addressed in the Code of Practice or in
other ways rather than referring to them in the Measure.
Now that the legislation has
been amended the six Officers of the Synod (the 'Group of Six')
- the
Archbishops, the Prolocutors of the Lower Houses of the
Convocations of Canterbury and York and the Chair and Vice-Chair of
the House of Laity - will need
to meet later this week to determine whether the amendments
constitute a change to the substance of the proposals embodied in
the draft Measure as approved by 42 of the 44 dioceses last
year.
If the Group of Six determines
that no such change has been made - an announcement will be made
after their deliberations - the way will be clear for the
legislation to come to the Synod for final approval in York in
July. This is subject to the possibility of the Convocations and
the House of Laity asking for the draft legislation to be referred
to them for approval before it is returned to the Synod. If they
were to exercise this right, their meetings would take place in
York immediately before the July meeting of General Synod, and the
legislation would need to be approved by each of those bodies by
simple majorities before the General Synod as a whole could
consider it at the Final Approval Stage (at which two-thirds
majorities in each House of the General Synod will be
required).
Notes
The Group of Six
It is up to the Group of Six - the two archbishops, the two
Prolocutors (chairs of the House of Clergy) and the chair and
vice-chair of the House of Laity to determine, acting in a
quasi-judicial capacity and having received legal advice, whether
these amendments alter the 'substance of the proposals embodied' in
the legislation (which would require it to be approved again in its
final form by a majority of the dioceses before it could go back to
the Synod for Final Approval) Membership: Archbishops of Canterbury
and York: Dr Rowan Williams and Dr John Sentamu, Prolocutors: Ven.
Christine Hardman and Canon Glyn Webster, Chair and vice-chair of
House of Laity- Dr Philip Giddings and Mr Tim Hind
The Final Approval
stage
This requires two-thirds
majorities in each House (bishops, clergy and laity). If approved,
the Measure would then go to Parliament for consideration by the
Ecclesiastical Committee and each House of Parliament (see GS Misc
1012).
Three principles from the House of Bishops
Extract from Archbishops'
foreword to GS MISC 1007 (January 2012)
"In the light of our
discussion, the House will continue to uphold these three
principles:
· Bishops will continue not to
discriminate in selecting candidates for ordination on the grounds
of their theological convictions regarding the admission of women
to Holy Orders;
· In choosing bishops to
provide episcopal ministry under diocesan schemes for parishes
requesting this provision, diocesan bishops will seek to identify
those whose ministry will be consistent with the theological
convictions concerning the ordination of women to the priesthood
and episcopate underlying the Letter of Request;
· The archbishops and bishops
commit themselves to seeking to maintain a supply of bishops able
to minister on this basis. This will obviously have a bearing on
decisions about appointments and on the role of bishops occupying
the sees of Beverley, Ebbsfleet and Richborough (which will, as a
matter of law, continue to exist even after the Episcopal Ministry
Act of Synod has been rescinded). "
Timeline
July 2000,
The General Synod invited the House of Bishops to undertake the
necessary theological work on the admission of the episcopate to
women
November
2000, Publication of the Rochester report.
February 2005- July
2006 Preparatory Synod debates
July 2008,
General Synod called for legislation to be drafted in line with the
motion: 'That this Synod:
(a) affirm that the wish of
its majority is for women to be admitted to the
episcopate;
(b) affirm its view that
special arrangements be available, within the existing structures
of the Church of England, for those who as a matter of theological
conviction will not be able to receive the ministry of women as
bishops or priests;
(c) affirm that these should
be contained in a statutory national code of practice to which all
concerned would be required to have regard; and
(d) instruct the legislative
drafting group, in consultation with the House of Bishops, to
complete its work accordingly, including preparing the first draft
of a code of practice, so that the Business Committee can include
first consideration of the draft legislation in the agenda for the
February 2009 group of sessions.'
December 2008
A further report from the Manchester Group (GS 1707) and
the draft
legislation, together with an illustrative code
of practice, were published
October/November 2009 The
Revision Committee issued two interim statements on its progress in
Octoberand November.
May 2010 The
Revision Committee's report was published with a revised draft of
the Measure
July 2010,
the Synod left
the draft legislation largely unamended and narrowly voted against
the Archbishops' amendment.
September
2010, the draft legislation was referred to the dioceses
for debate and vote ('Reference to
dioceses' explains this process in more detail
and contains links to the relevant documentation under
discussion).
February
2012, the Synod received a report (GS 1847) on
the Reference to dioceses. Of the 44 dioceses, 42 had approved the
legislation by a simple majority (Chichester and London voted
against). The Synod then debated diocesan synod motions on making
provision for those who, for theological reasons, would not be able
to receive the ministry of women bishops. Synod voted in favour of
an amended motion that asked that the House of Bishops should not
amend the draft Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of
Women) Measure "substantially".
Code of
Practice
The draft Measure requires the House of Bishops to draw up a code
of practice (which is not subject to the diocesan reference
procedure). This cannot be formally drawn up or laid before the
Synod for approval until after the legislation has received the
Royal Assent. An initial illustrative draft code was prepared by
the legislative drafting group in 2009 and in the light of changes
subsequently made to the draft legislation the House of Bishops
accepted the recommendation of the Revision Committee that further
work on a draft code should proceed, rather than waiting for the
various legislative stages to be completed. A House of Bishops
working party on the Code of Practice (chaired by the Bishop of St
Edmundsbury and Ipswich) started work in November 2010 with a view
to enabling the House of Bishops and the General Synod to engage
further with the shape of a draft code before the draft legislation
reached the Final Approval stage. The Bishop gave a presentation on
the illustrative code (GS Misc 1007 link) to the Synod in February
2012.