Church of England set to approve introduction of female bishops

First diocese vacancy to come up after the canon law is changed will be Southwell and Nottingham

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The Guardian, Press Association, Monday 17 November 2014

The Very Rev Vivienne Faull is considered a contender to become the first
female bishop. Photograph: Kippa Limited/Rex Features

The Church of England will shatter its “stained-glass ceiling” by voting in favour of appointing female bishops.

The Anglican General Synod is expected to approve legislation allowing women to be nominated and chosen for the senior posts, 20 years after the first female priests were ordained. The first female bishop could be appointed next year.

The move has been welcomed by long-term campaigners for change, who see it as the first step towards widening female participation in the church.

Hilary Cotton, chairwoman of Women and the Church (Watch), said she would like to see women ultimately make up a third of bishops – around 40 posts – “in order to make a difference”.

She said: “Until we get to around a third it doesn’t change the culture, or it is much harder to change it. It is not just about having women wearing purple, it is about changing the culture of the church to be more equal. It is exciting but I hope that in a few years it will be more normal for women to be appointed bishops.”

The first diocese vacancy to come up after the canon law is changed will be Southwell and Nottingham, after the Rt Rev Paul Butler was appointed as bishop of Durham. It will be followed by Gloucester, Oxford and Newcastle.

Several priests whose names have been suggested as the first female bishops include the Very Rev Vivienne Faull, dean of York Minster, and the Very Rev June Osborne, dean of Salisbury Cathedral.

The first women were ordained in 1994 in the Church of England and they now make up about a third of clergy. The plan to allow them to stand as bishops was derailed by just six votes cast by lay members in November 2012, causing bitter recriminations within the Church of England and prompting threats of an intervention by parliament.

In July the General Synod overwhelmingly backed legislation to introduce the first female bishops in the Church of England, and Monday’s vote in London will rubber stamp the move.

In October the church said positive discrimination could be used to install “under-represented” female bishops in diocese.

Synod member Christina Rees, who has campaigned for women in the church for 25 years, said women should eventually make up a high proportion of senior roles.

She said: “As far as I am concerned, by Tuesday any bishop can pick up the phone to a woman and say: ‘I would like you to be my next suffragan.’ I don’t see the problem with a quick appointment of a [female] suffragan but of course it would be exciting if the first was a diocesan. The stained-glass ceiling is finally being shattered.”

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Church of England General Synod approves female bishops
Jubilation as Church of England's synod votes to allow female bishops

Clerics at the Church of England synod in York take a 'selfie' as they celebrate

after the vote to allow female bishops. Photograph: Lindsey Parnaby/AFP/Getty

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God/Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… I gave you a channelling years ago when Pope John Paul was alive. John Paul loved Mary, the mother. Had John Paul survived another 10 years, he would have done what the next Pope [The one after the current one, Benedict XVI] will do, and that is to bring women into the Church. This Pope you have now [Benedict XVI] won't be here long.* The next Pope will be the one who has to change the rules, should he survive. If he doesn't, it will be the one after that.

There is a large struggle within the Church, even right now, and great dissention, for it knows that it is not giving what humanity wants. The doctrine is not current to the puzzles of life. The answer will be to create a better balance between the feminine and masculine, and the new Pope, or the one after that, will try to allow women to be in the higher echelon of the Church structure to assist the priests.

It will be suggested to let women participate in services, doing things women did not do before. This graduates them within church law to an equality with priests, but doesn't actually let them become priests just yet. However, don't be surprised if this begins in another way, and instead gives priests the ability to marry. This will bring the feminine into the church in other ways. It will eventually happen and has to happen. If it does not, it will be the end of the Catholic Church, for humanity will not sustain a spiritual belief system that is out of balance with the love of God and also out of balance with intuitive Human awareness.  …”