Women bishops in the Church of England Standard Note: SN/PC/03897 Last updated: 1 February 2010 Author: Lucinda Maer Section Parliament and Constitution Centre At present, women are prevented from becoming bishops under the 1993 Church of England Measure that permitted women to be ordained as priests. Although women can become priests, parishes can pass resolutions against the ministry of female priests in their parish. On 11 July 2005, the Church of England General Synod gave approval for setting in train “the process for removing the legal obstacles to the ordination of women to the episcopate”. In July 2006 the Synod agreed in principle to the consecration of women to the episcopate. The Women Bishops Legislative Drafting Group published its first report in April 2008. They set out a number of options for introducing women bishops, including providing a separate structure, or a code of practice, for those who would feel unable to accept a female bishop in their diocese. The House of Bishops proposed a motion for the Synod which would have allowed special arrangements to continue to be made for those who, as a matter of theological conviction, would be unable to receive the ministry of women as bishops or priests. The bishops favoured a ‘code of practice’ rather than a structural solution (one which would involve setting up new dioceses) to achieve this. On 7 July 2008, the Synod reaffirmed their majority support for the consecration of women to the episcopate. They decided that special arrangements should be made available to those whose theological convictions meant they were unable to receive the ministry of women priests or bishops, and there should be a ‘statutory national code of practice’ to which all concerned would have to have regard. A draft Measure was published on 29 December 2008 and the Synod agreed at their February 2009 meeting that the Measure should be considered for revision in committee. In October 2009 the Revision Committee announced that after receiving oral and written evidence they would amend the draft Measure to provide for certain functions to be vested in bishops by statute rather than by delegation from the diocesan bishop under a statutory code of practice. They had intended to bring new draft legislation to the Synod in February 2010, but this has now been delayed until July 2010. Before Measures passed by the Synod of the Church of England can take effect, Parliament has to agree to pass them for Royal Assent. When they receive Royal Assent, they have the full force of statute law. The Women Bishops Legislative Drafting Group have estimated that even if each stage of the process occurred as expeditiously as possible, the first women bishops would be unlikely to be consecrated before 2014. 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Contents 1 The ordination of women priests 3 2 Women Bishops: the current debate 4 2.1 The establishment of the Women Bishops Legislative Drafting Group 4 2.2 The Report of the Women Bishops Legislative Drafting Group 5 2.3 The proposals put forward by the House of Bishops 7 2.4 Comment before the July 2008 Synod meeting 9 2.5 The July 2008 Synod 11 2.6 Reactions to the Vote 12 2.7 Draft Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure 14 2.8 Referral to the Revision Committee 16 3 Background to the Women Bishops Legislative Drafting Group 17 3.1 Women Bishops in the Church of England (The Rochester Report) 2004 17 3.2 The Report of the House of Bishops’ Women Bishops Group 2006 (the Guildford Report) 18 4 Consideration in Parliament 20 4.1 The Bishops (Consecration of Women) Bill 2005-06 20 4.2 Early day motions 20 4.3 The procedure for implementing Church of England Measures 21 2 1 The ordination of women priests On 5 November 1993, the Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure 1993 received Royal Assent. The Measure permitted the ordination of women priests in the Church of England but also prevented women from becoming bishops in the Church of England: (1) It shall be lawful for the General Synod to make provision by Canon for enabling a woman to be ordained to the office of priest if she otherwise satisfies the requirements of Canon Law as to the persons who may be ordained as priests. (2) Nothing in this Measure shall make it lawful for a woman to be consecrated to the office of bishop.1 The Measure’s Royal Assent came five years after it was first introduced to General Synod in July 1988 but 20 years after the question of whether women should be admitted to the priesthood was first debated by the Synod.2 Under the Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure, pt II sections 3 and 4, parishes were allowed to vote for the following resolutions: Resolution A: That this PCC would not accept a woman as the minister who presides at or celebrates the Holy Communion or pronounces the absolution in the parish. Resolution B: That this PCC would not accept a woman as the incumbent or priest-in- charge of the benefice or as team vicar of the benefice. The Synod also passed an Act3 (the Episcopal Ministry Act of Synod 1993) on this matter which gave further protections for traditionalists: The General Synod regards it as desirable that – (a) all concerned should endeavour to ensure that – (i) discernment in the wider Church of the rightness or otherwise of the Church of England’s decision to ordain women to the priesthood should be as open a process as possible; (ii) the highest possible degree of communion should be maintained within each diocese; and (iii) the integrity of differing beliefs and positions concerning the ordination of women to the priesthood should be mutually recognised and respected; (b) the practical pastoral arrangements contained in this Act of Synod should have effect in each diocese.4 The 2004 Report, Women Bishops in the Church of England explained that the Act of Synod did three things: 1 Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure 1993, s1(2) 2 Ecclesiastical Committee, Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure and the Ordination of Women (Financial Provisions) Measure, 203rd and 204th Reports, 27 July 1993, HC 895 1992-93, para 1 3 Mark Hill’s Ecclesiastical Law explains that Acts of Convocation and Statements by the House of Bishops are forms of quasi-legislation “It has been suggested that Acts of Synod are a species of delegated legislation, made under the authority of the Synodical Government Measure 1969, Sch 2 art 6 (a) (iv), but this is questionable”. [Mark Hill, Ecclesiastical Law, 2007, Footnote 134, p 22] 4 Episcopal Ministry Act of Synod 1993 3 • It laid down that there should be no discrimination against candidates, ‘either for ordination or for appointment to a senior office in the Church of England’ on the grounds of ‘their views or positions about the ordination of women to the priesthood’. • Whilst maintaining the canonical position that the diocesan bishop has jurisdiction within his diocese, it allowed parishes opposed to the ordination of women priest to apply to their diocesan bishop for extended Episcopal care by a bishop of their persuasion whom their diocesan would invite to function within his diocese. • It made provision for the ordination, licensing and institution of women priests in dioceses where the diocesan bishop was opposed to the ordination of women priests.5 At the time, the Ecclesiastical Committee summarised the arguments that had been made in favour and against women’s ordination. The Committee stated that: the nub of the case advanced in favour of women priests is that women will enrich the priesthood, and that without women the priesthood is incomplete. Women will bring distinct gifts to the priestly ministry, and their inclusion within it will ensure that it fully reflects the richness and diversity of humanity created in the image of God. It then outlined the main objections to the ordination of women. It described them as “representative” – firstly, the priest represented Christ, who was male, and secondly, the apostles were all male and to allow women to be ordained would “compromise the apostolic continuity”; scriptural – it cited a number of texts highlighting the different roles of men and women; and “wider church” arguments related to the Church of England’s position within the universal church and the implications for unity with Roman Catholic and Eastern Churches, who opposed the ordination of women. There were also objections on the grounds that there was insufficient consensus.6 There remain over 900 parishes that have passed one or other of the two resolutions under the 1993 Measure.7 Roughly half of those in training for the ordained ministry are now women.8 2 Women Bishops: the current debate The process currently in train of drafting legislation to allow the ordination of women to the episcopate began in July 2005.