Female episcopate?” “

“Women bishops in the Anglican Church?” is the title of the Report drawn up by the “Women in the Episcopate” group chaired by the Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali. The document was presented to the House of Bishops, the main ruling body of the Anglican Church in England, at the beginning of November and has aroused a lively debate. The Report, which will be discussed during the next Synods in 2005, follows the request of Arch-deaconess Judith Rose who, at the Synod in 2000, asked the House of Bishops to discuss the option of female episcopate. BURNING QUESTIONS. “Would it be right, in principle, for women to become bishops? If the answer is yes, is this the right time for the Church of England to ordain women bishops? And if it is the right time, how should the female episcopacy be introduced and what provisions should be taken for those who, in conscience, are unable to accept this female ministry?” These are the burning questions that the Anglican Church in England is posing today, following the publication of the Report. There are some 2500 women ministers in the Anglican Church in England today, out of a total of 10,000 priests. The priesthood was opened to women in 1994, while access of the diaconate has existed since 1989. The existing regulation of the Church of England on the female priesthood contains a specific clause that excludes women from becoming bishops, while in other churches belonging to the Anglican Communion, e.g. in the USA, women bishops have been a reality since 1998. ecumenism at risk. Many Anglicans are favourable to the idea of a female episcopate today. But both the liberals and the conservatives hostile to the idea are equally apprehensive of the risks involved by going down such a road: it would not only risk creating further divisions and bad feelings within the Church of England – already riven by divergences on the female priesthood and the question of homosexuality – but would negatively impact on ecumenical relations with other Christian churches, and in particular would place barriers in the way of closer relations with the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. For this reason, in drawing up the report on women bishops, the terms of reference included not only theological, biblical, ecclesiological and historical reflections on the question, but also the viewpoint of the Christians of other confessions. Two Catholic voices, in particular, have emerged in the debate in England: the Dominican AIDAN NICHOLS and the theologian TINA BEATTIE. CATHOLIC VOICES. In line with the traditional Catholic point of view, the contribution of Nichols to the work group on the female episcopate placed the emphasis on the questions of “paternity” and “continuity” in the apostolic succession, justifying the exclusive male access to the episcopate with the discourse of the “bishop as bridegroom of the Church”. The Anglican Jonathan Baker, rector of Pusey House in Oxford and editor of the book Consecrated Women? A contribution to the women bishops debate (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2004), is also firmly opposed to female episcopal ordination. He points out the risk of “breach” with the “continuity” of the Christian tradition and with the “unity” of the Anglican Church. The other Catholic voice, that of the theologian Tina Beattie, appears in the book The Call for Women Bishops (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), edited by two women priests, both lecturers and chaplains at the University of Oxford, Harriet Harris and Jane Shaw. Favourable to female episcopate, Tina Beattie bases her case on the image of Mary Magdalen and her “apostolate”, citing in support of her argument the annunciation of the Resurrection of Christ and apocryphal texts of the Christian tradition. Harriet Harris and Jane Shaw lament the fact that “the Church has ignored the vocation of women and their gifts”. In receiving the Report of the work group headed by Nazir Ali on women bishops, the Archbishop of Canterbury, ROWAN WILLIAMS, and the Archbishop of York, DAVID HOPE, said in a joint statement: “We are happy to entrust it to study illuminated by prayer within the dioceses of the Church of England and invite the other Churches of the Anglican Communion and our ecumenical partners to share with us their reflections on the matter”.