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ENGLAND: FiF responds to WATCH/Affirming Catholicism press release
May 17, 2006
[A press release released by WATCH & Affirming Catholicism yesterday set out their 'plans for women bishops'; you can read the text here.]
In February, the General Synod , by 348 votes to 1, endorsed the recommendations of the Guildford Group that 'Transferred Episcopal Arrangements' (TEA) merited further exploration as a possible way forward should the Church of England decide to proceed with the ordination of women to the episcopate. In the course of the debate two amendments recommending a single clause Measure with a Code of Practice were conclusively defeated. The General Synod's overwhelming support for TEA must be seen in the context of the amendment successfully moved by the Archdeacon of Berkshire to the motion at the Synod of July 2005, which established the Guildford Group and invited it to look at a variety of approaches to possible legislation, that any such legislation should 'give specific attention to the issues of canonical obedience and the universal validity of orders throughout the Church of England' for those opposed on theological grounds to the ordination of women.' In February this year, the Archbishop of Canterbury reminded the Synod that such theological grounds were not merely a matter of opinion, but that those who hold them do so in obedience both to Scripture and to the consensus of the wider Catholic Church.
WATCH and Affirming Catholicism have now united to issue an ultimatum to the Synod in terms of certain 'non-negotiable' principles which seek to overturn the Synod's vote earlier this year, and which fly in the face both of the Archdeacon of Berkshire's amendment and the Archbishop's comments.
We are puzzled by the nature of this ultimatum, and particularly regret that an organisation calling itself 'catholic' has agreed to a statement which so resolutely prefers a contested decision of the national church to a patient discernment of the mind of the universal Church. What if (despite the claim that WATCH and Affirming Catholicism 'represent nearly half the members of the General Synod') the Synod once again rejects their way forward? What action do they propose to take to secure their demands? Would they go so far as to reject the orders of women bishops ordained under a Measure which did not meet their requirements?
Forward in Faith has made it clear that the undertakings already given to opponents of the ordination of women in the House of Bishops document 'Bonds of Peace' and in the Episcopal Ministry Act of Synod 1993 morally oblige the House and the Church to provide, in the new circumstances which will be created by women bishops (whose consecration was expressly excluded from the 1993 Measure), a structural solution which will secure for opponents a sustainable ecclesial life.
In particular we believe that the doctrine of reception, as the Church has defined and expressed it, acknowledges the theological integrity of opposition to women priests and bishops. It assures opponents that their position is not simply (as the WATCH/Affirming Catholicism statement suggests) one of holding 'private reservations' about the ordination of women. Nor was it was ever envisaged as simply 'the means by which the Church enters into the fullness of its joyful acceptance of women's ministry'. It has always been held (and clearly stated to be) 'a continuing process of judging the rightness of the decision'.
The joint statement by WATCH and Affirming Catholicism refers to the ecclesial provision for opponents which Forward in Faith has consistently sought as 'structures which undermine the catholic order of the church'. That phrase, we believe, aptly and accurately describes the ordination of women to the priesthood and the episcopate, which introduces a ministry in the Church which cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be said to have been received always, everywhere, and by all. We note with regret that WATCH and Affirming Catholicism now seem more determined than ever to drive from the Church of England those who have, hitherto, been assured of a secure, stable and lasting place within it.
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