All Eyes on 'Game-Changer' Welby as Church Faces Final Showdown on Women Bishops

The Daily Telegraph (UK) ^ | 11/17/12 | John Bingham,

[marshmallow]

The incoming Archbishop of Canterbury is preparing a personal plea to traditionalists in the Church of England to “go forward” with the idea of women bishops next week in an attempt to end years of wrangling over the issue.

In what could be one of the most decisive interventions of his leadership – even before he takes over as Archbishop – the Bishop of Durham, the Rt Rev Justin Welby, will urge doubters to back the measure in the name of unity.

The vote at a special session of the Church’s General Synod in London will be the first test of his authority as chosen successor to Dr Rowan Williams.

Although there is overwhelming support in the Church for women in the episcopate, the vote is expected to be on a knife-edge because it would take only a small number to deny the measure the two thirds majority it needs in all three parts of the Synod.

But Bishop Welby’s vocal endorsement of the measure last week, moments after being announced as the next Archbishop, is being seen as a potential “game-changer”.

He is understood to be spending much of this weekend drafting his speech, striking a balance between saying that it is time for the Church to move on and offering assurances to those with theological objections to women bishops that there will be proper “provision” for them

Coming from the evangelical wing of the Church, while also an enthusiast for Roman Catholic forms of worship, he is respected within the very circles where theological doubts about women in leadership are strongest.

He said last week that he would “value and learn” from those who could not support his stance adding: “I want the church to be a place where we can disagree in love.”

An online campaign called......

[jboot]

The ABC will cave, the synod will vote for women bishops and the Anglican “church” will wander even further into the wilderness, seeking and seeking but not willing to find.

[txrefugee]

This so-called “church” has abandoned the Bible long ago, so why not go all the way? It is nothing but a social club, devoid of true Christianity.

[bboop]

Yes, they will cave. Hence the new Anglican Ordinariate, in place for just such a decision. Once again. A timely invitation from the Pope to Journey Home.

[Jim from C-Town]

There is a ‘movement’ in the Catholic Church for female ordination. Like I tell the silly people who bring up this insanity:
1) the RCC is 2012 years old and never once ordained a woman as a priest, they wouldn't bend to the wills of Martin Luther & Henry VIII, I am positive they will not bend for you.

2) If the RCC decides to ordain women as priests they can forget about myself and about 80% of all Men that are practicing Catholics from continuing to do so. I, and many others, are sick and tired enough of the ‘alter girls’ and female Eucharistic ministers. Never needed them when the Church was full to bursting in the past,why are they needed when it is half empty?

Men get enough ‘feminine instruction’ in every day life from their wives, mothers and now their bosses at work. They will simply not attend or participate in a female dominated religion.

[Cicero]

Sad. We are not only seeing the self-destruction of the Anglican Church, but we are seeing an end to the values that made England a force for good in the world.

The Catholic Church in England has also been suffering from weak and dissident leaders, perhaps more than it has in America. But at least it has eternal guidance to fall back on and at some point bring it back to its senses. It looks doubtful whether the Church of England will ever recover, since there are hardly any English continuing to go the church every Sunday, as they used to do more or less automatically.

Well, that happened to the C of E once before, in the eighteenth century. Hopefully there will be another Christian revival like the one led by John Wesley, which brought new life to Anglicans as well as Methodists.

Or something.

[Cicero]

It won’t happen. The Pope has made it clear that there can be no women priests in the Catholic Church. I don’t see any way that such a formal pronouncement could be reversed.

[jboot]

Please forgive my pessimism, but I am not sure that Rome will be able to resist the progressives forever. There are too many already inside the gates in positions of power and influence. Vatican II proved that the Church can be pressured into fundamental change. Nothing prevents a Vatican III and whatever progressive "innovations" that would entail.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing Catholics. I don't think that the Protestant churches will stand firm, either. They will fall first, and many are already gone.

[jboot]

To my intense surprise and relief, I was too pessimistic:

Synod votes against women bishops

Sadly, the Other Side gets as many bites at the apple as it wants, so we will be here again sooner than we would like.

[Cicero]

I understand your fears, but I don’t think you need to worry about this one.

There was a two-thousand year history of only male priests and bishops in the Church, which made it pretty clear. Since it was taken for granted, no pope had pronounced on the matter ex-Cathedra, which gave the dissidents an opening.

But then JP II spoke specifically on the matter in one of his Encyclicals. No woman priests. That puts an end to the question, because once something has been said ex-cathedra, it cannot be reversed. It could be clarified or amplified, but what he said was clear enough to put the matter beyond further doubt.

There are no such rules in the Anglican Church, so a reversal is always possible, I’m afraid. But they are worried about losing all the Anglicans in Africa and other countries where the faith has remained more traditional, so I think they’ll be very hesitant to go ahead with this and see a further huge loss to their communion.

[jboot]

Interesting point that I had not considered. It behooves Pope Benedict to utter ex cathedra on each of the progressive lines of attack, assuming that he has not done so already. Issues pertaining to sexuality and personhood should be exhaustively circumscribed. I know this work was begun with Humanae Vitae, perhaps it is enough.

I see that the laity alone held the Anglicans back from thier latest "innovation." The Bishops and Clergy were nearly all in favor, which is terribly worrisome.