General Synod rejects draft legislation on women bishops
The General Synod of the Church of England has voted to reject the draft legislation to allow women to become bishops.
Under the requirements of the Synod the legislation required a two-thirds majority in each of the three voting houses for final draft approval. Whilst more than two thirds voted for the legislation in both the House of Bishops (44-03) and the House of Clergy (148-45), the vote in favour of the legislation in the House of Laity was less than two-thirds (132-74). The vote in the House of Laity fell short of approval by six votes.
In total 324 members of the General Synod voted to approve the legislation and 122 voted to reject it.
The consequence of the "no" vote of terminating any further consideration of the draft legislation means that it will not be possible to introduce draft legislation in the same terms until a new General Synod comes into being in 2015, unless the 'Group of Six' (the Archbishops, the Prolocutors and the Chair and Vice Chair of the House of Laity) give permission and report to the Synod why they have done so.
Speaking after the vote the Rt Revd Graham James, Bishop of Norwich, said: "A clear majority of the General Synod today voted in favour of the legislation to consecrate women as Bishops. But the bar of approval is set very high in this Synod. Two-thirds of each house has to approve the legislation for it to pass. This ensures the majority is overwhelming. The majority in the house of laity was not quite enough. This leaves us with a problem. 42 out of 44 dioceses approved the legislation and more than three quarters of members of diocesan synods voted in favour. There will be many who wonder why the General Synod expressed its mind so differently.
"The House of Bishops recognises that the Church of England has expressed its mind that women should be consecrated as bishops. There is now an urgent task to find a fresh way forward to which so many of those who were opposed have pledged themselves."
The House of Bishops of the Church of England will meet at 08.30am on Wednesday morning in emergency session to consider the consequences of the vote. (Anglican Communion News Service, 21 November 2012)
--ENDS---
1. The matter of a professional priesthood was deal with by Jesus... He simply got rid of it.
2. Biblically, there is no such priesthood in the churches and no hierarchy.
3. Therefore, the matter of women priests and bishops is biblically irrelevant.
4. It is also blasphemous for men or women to usurp the place of Christ, Who is Chief Priest, and to replace the priesthood of all believers with the Romish church slave, known as Anglicanism.
5. The Archbishop says it is sad day and an error not to vote for women bishops. The sadness is that Anglicans have bothered to even talk about it, when scripture is specifically against such a position.
6. Priests have also said that this is a retrograde step to take, making Anglicanism to lack credibility... Friends, Anglicanism HAS no credibility BECAUSE it is unbiblical!! And if it is retrograde to deny women bishopricks, then bring it all on with double force, because what they call 'retrograde' is what God demands!!