Mary Glasspool has the full backing of The Episcopal Church and Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori who said she has received consent from a majority of the bishops with jurisdiction, and a majority of the standing committees of this Church. "According to our canons, I must now take order for her consecration. I will do so. It has been my practice, since I took office, to preside at the consecration of new bishops, and I intend to do so in this case as well. I realize that this development will cause hurt and pain to some of you. I am deeply aware of the range of opinion and position about this." Her message: Get over it. The Archbishop of Canterbury has, to date, been silent about this consecration.

By contrast, the Rev. Susan Freeman, an evangelical and a deacon (ordained in Feb. 2009) at Christ Church, Plano, Texas, will be ordained to the Sacred Order of Priests by the Rt. Rev. John A. M. Guernsey, Bishop of the Diocese of the Holy Spirit, (Uganda) Anglican Church in North America.

Explaining this ordination, The Rt. Rev. Philip H. Jones, Missionary Bishop of The Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMiA) issued the following statement:

"Within the AMiA there has been a provision for the ordaining of women to the priesthood at (Rwanda) Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini's request. The Anglican province of Rwanda as well as other African provinces (Uganda and Kenya) has been ordaining women to the priesthood for several years. A few years ago, he requested that there be a provision for this in the AMiA.

"Under the umbrella of the Anglican Mission in the Americas, there is the Anglican Mission in America which does not allow for the ordination of women to the priesthood. Per Archbishop Kolini's request, there is a separate group under the Anglican Mission in the Americas called the Anglican Coalition in America. (ACiA). Under that group, there is a provision for the ordination of women to the priesthood. This has been in place for several years and has been used at Christ Church in Overland Park, Kansas, where recently a woman was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Kolini.

"Second, the ordination scheduled for May 15 would be the second ordination to the priesthood under the Anglican Mission in the Americas through the ACiA. Fr. David Roseberry and I have been in discussion about this for almost a year along with Missionary Bishop and chairman Chuck Murphy. I have asked Bishop John Guernsey to officiate at the ordination of Susan. I know Susan and she is a very qualified person."

Jones went on to say that he did not feel comfortable personally ordaining her as a priest. "Some AMiA bishops may feel differently, but I asked Bishop John Guernsey to preside. This was agreeable with Fr. Roseberry and with the Council of bishops of the AMiA. Roseberry has communicated this to his parish over the past several months with the clarity that this ordination would take place under the authority of the AMiA as provided for in the charter.

"Third, I understand that some people have valid opinions on both sides of the women's ordination issue. I also understand that this has only happened once before within the AMiA at Christ Church in Overland Park, Kansas, and therefore may have been a surprise to many of you.

"I want to set the record straight that this ordination is taking place pursuant to the charter of the AMiA. Susan Freeman will be a priest in the Little Rock network and I will be her Bishop. She will attend our meetings as she always has but would not be celebrating Holy Communion services at our network meetings.

"Fourth, the Anglican Communion as a whole is in a period of reception about the women's ordination issue. The Anglican Mission respects two integrities and two positions on this issue. There is not a common mind about women's ordination in the Anglican Communion. Good Bible -- believing, Christ honoring men and women, pastors and lay, Anglican and otherwise, can come to different conclusions about this issue."

Questioned on the ordination by VOL, Fr. Roseberry, rector of Christ Church, an AMiA parish that separated amicably from the Diocese of Dallas some years ago and is now within AMiA in the Little Rock Network, answered,

"Both the Canons of the ACNA and the AMiA allow for the ordination of women. (In fact, Archbishop Kolini ordained a woman just last September within the AMiA within its subsidiary the ACiC.) This is obviously something that the 'two integrities', as the Archbishop Duncan has called it, need to be patient and kind about.

"Archbishop Duncan is looking at the Global South for guidance and support as we sort this part of the ACNA out. After all, while there are different stances about this issue within the Global South, they seem to know how to work together for Gospel ministry. We must remember that Uganda, Kenya (and Rwanda) do ordain women to the priesthood. Nigeria and West Africa do not. But they are in full communion with each other and we with them.

"I am very sorry for the distraction that this issue might cause to the mission of the new Anglican Church in North America. Christ Church is not trying to set a trend or establish a precedent. We are trying to complete a process that has been ongoing for nearly 12 years, the first in TEC and now in the AMiA/ACNA. When we left TEC she courageously chose to come with us. She is the first and only woman we have endorsed for ordination to the priesthood and I do not plan to continue this.

"The Anglican Mission in the Americas provides a way to maintain the integrity, and honor the consciences, of those with differing opinions and policies on women's ordination."

When news of the pending ordination took place, the blogsphere predictably erupted. Blogger Edward Pacht wrote, "There is no authority at the 'communion level' to establish doctrine. Each Anglican Communion church is an entity unto itself, bound in fellowship, but not in authority to the rest. Even if there was such an authority, it is simple nonsense to declare that a NEW doctrine or practice is 'tradition', especially if it be one that has been stalwartly denied for centuries. Just over three decades certainly is not tradition." He went on to say, "Never, even now, has it been true that Anglicans generally, even within the Canterbury Communion, accept WO as an Anglican position." He said majority opinion dies but not established doctrine, "Just ask St. Athanasius about that one. No, WO is a denial of Anglican tradition, an intrusion of an anti-traditional doctrine/practice, and effectually secession from Anglicanism. Plano's bold attempt at Newspeak is most certainly Orwellian."

Many agree with him arguing that women's ordination is a Donatist heresy and should be repudiated. The Anglican Mission's resident theologian, the Rt. Rev. Dr. John Rodgers wrote a definitive paper on the subject concluding that women should not be ordained either to the episcopacy or the priesthood (only to the Diaconate).

He wrote to Catholic blogger and history professor William Tighe saying, "I have been reassured that AMIA remains firmly within the position we took earlier. The apparent confusion concerning AMIA is that Archbishop Kolini, much honored and beloved by all of us, is of a different opinion and has set up ways in which people and congregations under his care can ordain women. These congregations are not members of AMIA, but the clergy can be under Kolini and officially in the clerical list of Rwanda and may also be members of ACNA, which at present includes ordained women and ordains women, but does not consecrate women as bishops."

Rodgers said the issue was "most difficult and painful" and would be addressed by the Council of Bishops.

"The issue is not being neglected and will be seriously addressed. I know that for many in the Council of Bishops simply agreeing on diversity on this issue is unacceptable, so, as one bishop referred to it, 'the elephant in the middle of the room' is now coming up for serious address."

Not everyone agrees with his view. Many evangelicals believe the interpretation of certain Biblical passages relating to teaching and leadership roles includes women. The main passages in this debate include Galatians 3:28, 1 Cor. 11:2-16, 1 Cor. 14:34-35 and 1 Tim. 2:11-14, 1 Tim. 3:1-7, Tit. 1:5-9.

Increasingly, supporters of women's ordination make appeals to evidence from the New Testament that is taken to suggest that women did exercise ministries in the apostolic Church (e.g., Acts 21:9, Acts 18:18, Romans 16:1-4, Romans 16:7; 1 Cor. 16:19, and Philippians 4:2–3) and that the Biblical passages used to argue against women's ordination might be read differently when a clear understanding of the unique historical context of each passage is available.

One thing is clear, the period of open reception that sees ACNA Archbishop Robert Duncan who stands for the ordination of women and Bishop Jack Iker, a staunch Anglo-Catholic who does not, (and who has said he would pull out of ACNA if it ever ordained a woman bishop,) cannot go unresolved indefinitely.

The ordination of women to the priesthood will continue to simmer just beneath the surface of the new North American Anglican province and unless, in time, it is not fully resolved, it will erupt, bringing about its downfall.

END