Church of England faces split

The Church of England was facing a serious split Tuesday after its ruling General Synod voted to allow women bishops despite threats by more than 1,300 clergy that they would quit over the issue. The Synod, the church’s legislative body, voted late Monday to press ahead with the ordination of women bishops and rejected the legal safeguards demanded by traditionalists. The Synod members voted to approve the drawing-up of a statutory national code of practice to accommodate parishes and clergy who object to women bishops on grounds of conscience. That fell short of demands by traditionalists, who had wanted new dioceses to be created for parishes and clergy opposed to women bishops. The Synod also rejected compromise proposals to create a new order of three male ‘super bishops’ to cater for objectors. The crunch vote at the University of York in northern England followed a passionate six-hour debate which pitched conservatives against liberals and ended with one bishop in tears as he said he was ‘ashamed’ of the Church of England. The Rt Rev Stephen Venner, the Bishop of Dover in southeast England, who supports women bishops, said the failure to agree to create ‘super bishops’ meant that every opportunity to allow objectors to ‘flourish’ with the Church had been blocked. ‘I have to say, Synod, for the first time in my life, I feel ashamed,’ he said. Bishops voted to bring forward legislation to ordain women bishops by 28 to 12, clergy were in favour by 124 to 44 and lay people by 111 to 68. The Church of England, led by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, is the mother church of the worldwide Anglican Communion, which has about 77 million followers. It first ordained women priests in 1994 amid a storm of controversy. For conservatives, women and gay clergy – an issue which has also caused bitter splits in the church in recent years – cast doubt on the interpretation of Christianity’s sacred text, the Bible.