Women deacons at Bristol after their ordination in 1994
Posted on 11/20/2007 11:33:48 AM PST by NYer
Women deacons at Bristol after their ordination in 1994
When the Rev Dr Jennifer Cooper was ordained at Bristol Cathedral a month ago, it was a moment of uncomplicated joy. "I was overwhelmed to be surrounded by so many people, sharing in this very powerful moment," she says. "I was finally going to fulfil my calling."
On the surface, few ceremonies could offer more hope to a Church of England fighting for survival than an ordination. It is a sign of new life, at a time when Sunday attendance threatens to dip below a million.
And, since the ordination of women was approved exactly 15 years ago tomorrow, their presence is now taken for granted: more than 2,000 out of 9,500 Anglican clergy are women, as are almost half of trainee priests. And yet no issue has divided the Church so violently in recent times as that of women priests.
From the moment it became a reality, after a vote of the General Synod in November 1992, there was talk of schism and threats of an exodus to Rome. "This is the death of the Church," concluded one opponent. "You can no more ordain a woman than a pork pie," suggested another.
Lord Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury during those turbulent years, has strong memories of the era. As leader of the Church, it was his job to steer the debate with as few casualties as possible. But he was also a passionate supporter of women priests.
"It was a most bewildering journey, with vitriol and bitterness as well as joy," he recalls. "As Archbishop of Canterbury, I was expected to be on both sides of the debate, which was of course impossible. I was quite clear that the ordination of women was right."
As the General Synod voted on that grey afternoon in 1992, after five and a half hours of debate, history was made, even though the women won with just two votes to spare.
"There were very strong emotions on both sides," says Christina Rees, a leading member of the Movement for the Ordination of Women Priests. "Euphoria on one side, and inconsolable sadness for those who felt their church had been destroyed."
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tough for the first women priests’ |
Supporters of women priests predicted that the church would be transformed, and pews would overflow. But opponents were distraught. "Swamped by modernism, liberalism and feminism, the Church of England is now nothing more than a rotting carcass," lamented the Rev Francis Bown.
In the following weeks, more than 400 priests left the Church. Many took shelter in Roman Catholicism, where they were joined by high-profile parishioners such as the MPs Ann Widdecombe and John Gummer. Others made use of an opt-out clause which let them exclude the women from their parishes. In a move that is now being challenged, the legislation also barred women from becoming bishops. These are still open wounds.
But the impact of women priests was always going to take a long time to be felt, and only now can we begin to get a true sense of it. Were they the disaster their opponents predicted? Have they undermined 450 years of tradition? Or have they breathed new life into an ailing church? In short, was it worth it?
Despite the meticulous attempts of the first generation not to offend, all the new priests met with some prejudice, which even now they are keen to downplay. Few complained when they were called "witches", or jostled by aggressive members of the congregation, or excluded from meetings with male colleagues, or given the cold shoulder by parishioners who refused to take communion from them.
Instead, they bided their time and were eventually acknowledged as having brought a new humanity to the priesthood.
"I remember speaking to a woman who had had a stillborn baby," says Christina Rees. "Her vicar had suffered a series of late miscarriages. She went to her and just held her. Nothing could have been more comforting at that time. That kind of instinctive compassion is part of what they are bringing."
Among the first to take orders was the Rev Canon Wendy Wilby, who read music at Oxford University and is now Precentor at Bristol Cathedral. "I first felt a calling to the priesthood when I was 13 years old," says Canon Wilby, a mother of two.
"People were horrified even at the suggestion: it seemed impossible. I was 40 when it finally happened, but it was still everything I had hoped for. Undoubtedly, the loneliness can be extreme when you feel everyone is against you. I look at some of the new generation, and think, 'You don't know what it was like at the beginning.' But I haven't regretted a minute of it."
Perhaps the single greatest sign of acceptance was the success of The Vicar of Dibley, the comedy series in which Dawn French's Geraldine Granger ran a country parish. At its peak, it attracted 15 million viewers - an audience the Church could only dream of seeing in the pews.
"She's done a lot for us," says the Rev Canon Christine Froude, 60, who was a bank manager before she joined the priesthood 14 years ago. "It was very tough for the first women priests, who fought the hardest battles. There was always a sense of not wanting to offend anyone. Those were serious times and some women had become a bit battle-weary. It was good for all of us for Dibley to present a face of female ministry that was fun as well as caring."
But what of those who opposed the change, and felt compelled to either leave the Church or opt out of parishes where women were ministers? The two main factions were evangelicals, who were opposed mainly on theological grounds, and Anglo-Catholics, who were concerned over relations with other denominations, including the Roman Catholics, that were - and still are - strongly opposed to female clergy.
There has certainly been a softening in attitude. While many maintain that the Church never had the authority to tamper with the priesthood, nearly all acknowledge that women clergy have made a significant human contribution.
"In many ways, it's been a good thing in pastoral terms," says Charles Moore, a former editor of The Daily Telegraph and a convert to Roman Catholicism. "The people who warned against it were wrong if they thought it would cause trouble in parishes: there are more people ministering to the flocks, and women seem to do this very well.
"But it has undoubtedly proved a significant block to church unity. The great movement to get the churches together has ground to a halt. And unity should be such an overwhelming concern for a Christian." In the staunchly Anglo-Catholic parish of St Peter's, Wapping, Father T?E Jones describes the damage to ecumenical relations as "profound" and points out that hopes of women rescuing the Church of England have proved unfounded.
"Women priests are just like men," he says. "Some are brilliant and some are rubbish. But it was never about pragmatism. It was about whether the Church had the authority to make that decision. It's a bit like Arsenal suddenly deciding that they are no longer going to use the offside rule, regardless of the rest of the league. And this has not done anything to stop the decline in Christian practice: we're in just as much trouble as ever."
According to Dr Cooper, who is a month into her ministry, no group could be expected to halt 50 years of decline. But as both a priest and an academic theologian, she believes it is high time for the Church to move on.
"While women are excluded from being bishops and while there are still men joining the priesthood who are against women priests, that is still hard," she says. "But it is not so hard that it stops me from considering the far more important issues facing the Church and the world, or from feeling an enormous sense of joy at what I am doing. Not for a moment."
And who did they look to?
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Speak the truth in love. Eph 4:15
I assume you’ll eventually have a point.
Funny how the article dodges around that unfulfilled claim.
If a model was necessary, it never would have begun. Wouldn't "modern" secular thinking about gender roles explain it better?
I noticed that too. Typical of leftist insanity, when something doesn't work the way predicted, it's never that the leftist were wrong, but there just hasn't been enough leftism to produce the desired results yet.
Unfortunately, there's a stigma associated today that didn't used to be there. :-(
arrogantbustard: These are Anglicans ... so their “orders” are invalid anyway ...
wideawake: Indeed - but these are the model that “Womenpriests” look to.
Harsh words, brothers. From what I have learned about the apostolic source of the bishop who conferred my orders upon me, I am persuaded that they are in fact quite apostolic and authentically catholic. Shall we dispute further?
Not in this case — I’ve been in this parish about 5 years, and there have been altar boys right along, just fewer an fewer in recent months. The whole summer there were only girls.
Yes, I remember there was an Episcopal parish just down the road, and quite suddenly, they took down the sign and announced they were The Catholic Church of St Mary the Virgin.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t so sudden, but I was in college, away from home, and it seemed to me to happen overnight. Maybe some of today’s exiting parishes could take notes on how SMTV kept their property?
I can't say I've seen more than 10 minutes of this trashy series (rebroadcast at odd hours in the USA by PBS, of course) without hearing the prodigiously porcine, pushy-priestess character make some sort of off-color joke, provoking me to switch the channel. What a lovely example of a "woman of God!"
Last year I spoke to a Canon with the C-of-E (living here in America now) who told me he had once supported women's ordination, but now he has changed. The experience in the parishes in England is part of what has changed his mind.
Here's the best quote in the article...and why the sodomites have driven in through the same hole in the wall that the well-meaning (and subjectively "called") women broke open:
But it was never about pragmatism. It was about whether the Church had the authority to make that decision.
Priestettes for Christianettes...
What a coincidence! I’m writing a book of “liberation geometry” entitled Square Circles And Their Continuing Battle.>>>
You are more hilarious than you think. Made my day:)
Back in the early 70's, as the feminist movement was beggining to take shape, a close friend, an Italian immigrant, made an observation that, at the time (in my youthful naivete), made me laugh. He was a scholar of Classical Civilizations. Pointing to Ancient Greece and Rome, he noted that throughout history, each time women rose to power, they were immediately followed by a rise in the homosexual movement, after which the societies eventually collapsed. Since then, you and I have watched this same phenomenon, not only here but all around the world. I stopped laughing many years ago. May God have mercy on our souls.
That's because they need to save space on Page 1 for the RC WomenPriestesses whose ordinations are not recognized by "their" Church.
The whole thing is sad for those who come to Church on Sunday with the intent to worship our Lord. Prideful arrogance has resulted in a mockery of Christ!
I would be interested in hearing the case made for the authenticity of such a claim.
Was this in Arlington, TX?
Was this before or after the Dennis Canon (ca. '82?)?
So...how's that working out?
This should not call merely his conclusions into question, but his method.
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