A CHURCH of England with women bishops will force more and more people to leave, a leading traditionalist has controversially forecast.After the departure of Anglo-Catholics, the next group to have to go could be the conservative evangelicals.
The grim picture of a future church lacking the historic Anglican qualities of tolerance, inclusiveness and comprehensiveness is painted by Canon Nicholas Turner of the Bradford diocese in the Advent issue of News-Round, the Bradford diocesan magazine.
In a hard-hitting thinkpiece headed Part of what we mean by Unity, Canon Turner, 58, commenting on Pope Benedict's offer to Anglicans of a "personal ordinariate," says the approach from "the first among bishops...must not be ignored".
It is, "in one sense," the outcome and fulfilment of the ecumenical initiatives of the last 50 years, says the Rector of Broughton, Marton and Thornton, North Yorkshire, where his wife, Canon Ann Turner, is parish deacon.
He predicts that Anglicans entering into communion with Rome within the ordinariate "might somehow be enabled to become truly ecumenical," and that is, he says, "exhilarating".
Canon Turner says a separate Anglican ordinariate would presumably be self financing- "and therefore a considerably less secure, more sacrificial and tentative option" - and that "would be the price you pay for wanting to remain Anglican."
In a tilt at liberal Anglicans who want to "chuck us out" of the Church of England, he declares: "The natural desire...should, I think, be resisted. The debate, contest, struggle between liberals and traditionalists is a major one within the CofE."
Pointedly, Canon Turner goes on: "Shouting 'good riddance' isn't the best response." And in observations certain to intensify the controversy, he adds: "The irony is that Pope Benedict, by inviting us to be in communion with Rome - while still remaining Anglican- is showing a degree of tolerance, inclusivity and comprehensiveness that we always thought was part of the self-definition of the Church of England.
"That is the curious prospect: that this new Anglican 'church' will show all the traditional virtues of Anglicanism, while the continuing Church of England will be forcing more and more people to leave. Surely conservative evangelicals would be next.
"How do we stay open and generous when the Pope has shown himself to be both? Is the Pope an Anglican? Amazingly, the answer might be Yes."
THE deep divisions on the issue are underlined elsewhere in the same magazine by opposing comments - from Nicholas Turner's own bishop.
The Rt Rev David James, Bishop of Bradford, in a dig at Anglo-Catholics, suggests: "The Pope seems to be offering a Roman Catholic home for traditionalists to continue Anglican practices, whereas many of the people to whom he's appealing want exactly the reverse - an Anglican home in which to carry out Catholic practices."
Bishop James, who retires in July, goes on: "Apart from suggesting that, for those who go over to Rome, some former Anglicans might possibly become bishops...and have their own theological training institutions, I'm not sure how much more that's being offered is new."
He adds: "I hope that when it becomes possible for the Church of England to have women bishops, there will still be a place for people who can't accept this development - but this will require a generosity of spirit on all sides."
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