The Church of England committed itself yesterday to debating the consecration of women bishops at some future date. However, the steps taken at the General Synod in York during the weekend have not resolved the sharp differences that have already arisen over the ordination of women priests.
On Saturday, the synod debated the 1993 act of synod which set up the system of "flying bishops" whereby parishes opposed to women priests can be ministered to by a bishop of the same persuasion. This was "profoundly discriminatory" against women, said Canon Patience Purchas of the Diocese of St Albans.
But the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, argued the act of synod had "provided freedom and space for those who, for one reason or another, do not accept that the Church of England's decision to provide for the ordination of women to the presbyterate was the right one."
Nevertheless, he recognised that for some it was "a cause of anxiety and bewilderment" which seemed to call women's priestly ministry into question. But, Dr Carey pointed out, there were no "no-go" dioceses for women priests in the Church of England, unlike some other provinces of the Anglican Communion, and it did not cast doubt on women's ordination.
Yesterday, the synod moved on to discuss the prospect not of women bishops as such but of discussing having them. By a very substantial majority, it accepted a private member's motion put forward by one of the highest-ranking women priests, Archdeacon Judith Rose. She asked the house of bishops "to initiate further theological study on the episcopate, focusing on the issues that need to be addressed in preparation for the debate on women in the episcopate in the Church of England, and to make a progress report on this study to synod within the next two years".
The whole point, she said, was to try to be clear about the issues that needed to be addressed before debating whether or not women ought to be included in the episcopate of the Church of England.
The Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, emphasised that this study would need to take account of the commission set up after the 1988 Lambeth Conference under the chairmanship of the Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Robin Eames, to consider how to cope with the impaired communion that would exist through some Anglican provinces having women bishops and others refusing to recognise them.