He acknowledged that to many it would appear that the Synod was being held
“hostage” by certain minority groups opposed to change.
And he said that, irrespective of rules preventing the measure coming back for debate for several years, “parking” it would not be an option.
His comments came after almost three quarters of the General Synod voted in favour of allowing women to become bishops but the measure fell short of final approval by just six votes in one strand of the Synod, the House of Laity.
All but two of the 44 dioceses of the Church of England have already voted
strongly in favour.
But an alliance of born-again conservative evangelicals and traditionalist Anglo-Catholics, who are strongly represented in the House of Laity, are opposed to women bishops on theological grounds and refused to accept the measure.
They said that a compromise clause allowing them to opt out of the authority of a future woman bishop does not offer them enough reassurances.
Dr Wililams, who held urgent talks with fellow bishops early this morning, said that all sides needed to get around a table with mediators urgently.
“I hope that we will try and hold back from some recrimination in all this,” he said. “The work to do internally is considerable but it is tempting to say that is nothing to the work we have to do externally. We have, to put it bluntly, a lot of explaining to do. Whatever the motivations for voting yesterday, whatever the theological principle on which people acted and spoke the fact remains that a great deal of this discussion is not intelligible to our wider society. Worse than that it seems as if we are wilfully blind to some of the trends and priorities of wider society. So we have some explaining to do. We have as a result of yesterday undoubtedly lost a measure of credibility in our society.”
Dr Williams added: “After all the effort that has gone into this process over the last few years after the intense frustration … it would be tempting to conclude that it is too difficult and perhaps this should be parked for a while. I don’t believe that is possible because of what I said earlier about the sense of our credibility in wider society. Every day in which we fail to resolve this to our satisfaction … is a day when our credibility in the public eye is likely to diminish. We have to take that seriously, however uncomfortable that might be, there is a matter of mission here and we can’t afford to hang about. We can’t as I said yesterday in my remarks indefinitely go on living, simply theologically, with the anomaly of women priests who can not be considered as bishops.”
Dr Williams acknowleded the danger of the Church being held "hostage" to minorities with a hard-line agenda not shared by the majority in the pews.
He said: "That sense of Synod which for admirable, praiseworthy reasons gives very strong voice to minority, that sense of Synod needs some explaining and some exploring if it is not simply to be seen as a holding to hostage of Synod by certain groups. That’s part of the explaining we need to do.”
Earlier today, Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, signalled liberals were willing to continue the fight and claimed the Church would definitely have women bishops "in my lifetime".
The second most powerful man in the church said that it was “very disappointing” it had not happened during this General Synod but he was sure the principle had been accepted.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Dr Sentamu said: "“It is very disappointing because we have been working at this for a very long time. Everybody accepts women bishops. The timing is not an easy one but I am one of those that strongly believes … there will be in my lifetime. The principle has already been accepted by the General Synod and in all the dioceses so what we need to do is find the legislation. 99.9% of the legislation is there, it's this little business of provision for those who are opposed."
“I have had for the first time, traditional Catholics, conservative evangelicals saying that whatever happens with this measure we will work with it but if it doesn’t we will continue to work towards a good legislation. I want to take them at their word. They have said publicly they will work to make it come about.”
He insisted the Church is "not dead", saying: ""This morning people have been saying 'the Church has committed suicide, the Church is dead'. Well, dead people don't converse. We have been conversing, we have not committed suicide at all, we are very much living."
The Bishop of Durham, Justin Welby, who is the next Archbishop of Canterbury and a supporter of women bishops, tweeted: "Very grim day, most of all for women priests and supporters, need to surround all with prayer and love and co-operate with our healing God."
Yesterday Dr Rowan Williams spoke of “deep personal sadness” as one bishop described it a “very dark day for the Church”.
MPs expressed dismay and warned that the decision would intensify calls for the disestablishment of the Church of England.
The decision averts the prospect of a small group of conservative evangelicals and traditionalist Anglo-Catholics, who object to women bishops on theological grounds, from leaving the Church.
However, there were warnings that it threatens a crisis of morale in parishes, especially among women clergy.
Supporters of the plans lined up during the debate at the General Synod to warn that it would be a “suicide” for the Church’s “mission” in society to reject the measure in the face of strong support.
But delegates were swayed by strong arguments that a hard-fought compromise clause would not be enough to prevent traditionalists from leaving.
The clause would have allowed parishes to opt out of the authority of a female bishop and request a male alternative.
About 900 of the Church’s 13,000 parishes were thought likely to take up the offer, although opponents said the arrangement did not offer them enough legal safeguards.
One speaker likened the prospect of passing the measure without stronger safeguards to the Great Ejection of 1662, when nonconformists left the Church because of doctrinal differences.
There will now almost certainly be calls in Parliament for the Church of England’s exemption from equality legislation — effectively allowing it to discriminate against women by barring them from becoming bishops — to be removed, opening the way for women to bring a legal challenge.
If successful, it could lead to women becoming bishops without any of the arranged safeguards for traditionalists agreed by Synod.
Opponents of the ordination of women bishops said they would now sit down with
Bishop Welby to try to find a way forward. But under the Church’s rules, the no-vote has effectively killed off the prospect of women bishops for another five years.
Ben Bradshaw, a former Labour minister, said: “This means the Church is being held hostage by an unholy and unrepresentative alliance of conservative evangelicals and conservative Catholics. This will add to clamour for disestablishment, there is even talk of moves in Parliament to remove the Church’s exemption from the Equality Act.”
It is likely to undermine the Church’s pitch to halt Government plans for same-sex marriage.
The Rev Canon Robert Cotton said: “We have made David Cameron’s job getting gay marriage through much easier — why should he take the Church of England seriously when it seems interested only in looking after its own?”
The Rev Canon Rosie Harper, a leading campaigner for women bishops, said: “It’s quite hard not to take it personally. I think institutionalised discrimination will continue and this is very bad news for the Church of England. ”
During the debate, Bishop Welby warned of the consequences of a failure to deal with “difference”.
Dr Williams had warned the Synod against “binding the extraordinary energies and talents” of his successor with many more years of bitter wrangling.
Dr Williams said: “Of course I hoped and prayed that this particular business would be at another stage before I left, and of course it is a personal sadness, a deep personal sadness that that is not the case.”
Fr David Houlding, of the Anglo-Catholic group Forward in Faith, said the “inevitable” happened but “there are no winners”.
The Rev Rod Thomas, of the evangelical group Reform, said: “It is very good news. We have avoided what could have been a disastrous mistake.”
But an alliance of born-again conservative evangelicals and traditionalist Anglo-Catholics, who are strongly represented in the House of Laity, are opposed to women bishops on theological grounds and refused to accept the measure.
They said that a compromise clause allowing them to opt out of the authority of a future woman bishop does not offer them enough reassurances.
Dr Wililams, who held urgent talks with fellow bishops early this morning, said that all sides needed to get around a table with mediators urgently.
“I hope that we will try and hold back from some recrimination in all this,” he said. “The work to do internally is considerable but it is tempting to say that is nothing to the work we have to do externally. We have, to put it bluntly, a lot of explaining to do. Whatever the motivations for voting yesterday, whatever the theological principle on which people acted and spoke the fact remains that a great deal of this discussion is not intelligible to our wider society. Worse than that it seems as if we are wilfully blind to some of the trends and priorities of wider society. So we have some explaining to do. We have as a result of yesterday undoubtedly lost a measure of credibility in our society.”
Dr Williams added: “After all the effort that has gone into this process over the last few years after the intense frustration … it would be tempting to conclude that it is too difficult and perhaps this should be parked for a while. I don’t believe that is possible because of what I said earlier about the sense of our credibility in wider society. Every day in which we fail to resolve this to our satisfaction … is a day when our credibility in the public eye is likely to diminish. We have to take that seriously, however uncomfortable that might be, there is a matter of mission here and we can’t afford to hang about. We can’t as I said yesterday in my remarks indefinitely go on living, simply theologically, with the anomaly of women priests who can not be considered as bishops.”
Dr Williams acknowleded the danger of the Church being held "hostage" to minorities with a hard-line agenda not shared by the majority in the pews.
He said: "That sense of Synod which for admirable, praiseworthy reasons gives very strong voice to minority, that sense of Synod needs some explaining and some exploring if it is not simply to be seen as a holding to hostage of Synod by certain groups. That’s part of the explaining we need to do.”
Earlier today, Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, signalled liberals were willing to continue the fight and claimed the Church would definitely have women bishops "in my lifetime".
The second most powerful man in the church said that it was “very disappointing” it had not happened during this General Synod but he was sure the principle had been accepted.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Dr Sentamu said: "“It is very disappointing because we have been working at this for a very long time. Everybody accepts women bishops. The timing is not an easy one but I am one of those that strongly believes … there will be in my lifetime. The principle has already been accepted by the General Synod and in all the dioceses so what we need to do is find the legislation. 99.9% of the legislation is there, it's this little business of provision for those who are opposed."
“I have had for the first time, traditional Catholics, conservative evangelicals saying that whatever happens with this measure we will work with it but if it doesn’t we will continue to work towards a good legislation. I want to take them at their word. They have said publicly they will work to make it come about.”
He insisted the Church is "not dead", saying: ""This morning people have been saying 'the Church has committed suicide, the Church is dead'. Well, dead people don't converse. We have been conversing, we have not committed suicide at all, we are very much living."
The Bishop of Durham, Justin Welby, who is the next Archbishop of Canterbury and a supporter of women bishops, tweeted: "Very grim day, most of all for women priests and supporters, need to surround all with prayer and love and co-operate with our healing God."
Yesterday Dr Rowan Williams spoke of “deep personal sadness” as one bishop described it a “very dark day for the Church”.
MPs expressed dismay and warned that the decision would intensify calls for the disestablishment of the Church of England.
The decision averts the prospect of a small group of conservative evangelicals and traditionalist Anglo-Catholics, who object to women bishops on theological grounds, from leaving the Church.
However, there were warnings that it threatens a crisis of morale in parishes, especially among women clergy.
Supporters of the plans lined up during the debate at the General Synod to warn that it would be a “suicide” for the Church’s “mission” in society to reject the measure in the face of strong support.
But delegates were swayed by strong arguments that a hard-fought compromise clause would not be enough to prevent traditionalists from leaving.
The clause would have allowed parishes to opt out of the authority of a female bishop and request a male alternative.
About 900 of the Church’s 13,000 parishes were thought likely to take up the offer, although opponents said the arrangement did not offer them enough legal safeguards.
One speaker likened the prospect of passing the measure without stronger safeguards to the Great Ejection of 1662, when nonconformists left the Church because of doctrinal differences.
There will now almost certainly be calls in Parliament for the Church of England’s exemption from equality legislation — effectively allowing it to discriminate against women by barring them from becoming bishops — to be removed, opening the way for women to bring a legal challenge.
If successful, it could lead to women becoming bishops without any of the arranged safeguards for traditionalists agreed by Synod.
Opponents of the ordination of women bishops said they would now sit down with
Bishop Welby to try to find a way forward. But under the Church’s rules, the no-vote has effectively killed off the prospect of women bishops for another five years.
Ben Bradshaw, a former Labour minister, said: “This means the Church is being held hostage by an unholy and unrepresentative alliance of conservative evangelicals and conservative Catholics. This will add to clamour for disestablishment, there is even talk of moves in Parliament to remove the Church’s exemption from the Equality Act.”
It is likely to undermine the Church’s pitch to halt Government plans for same-sex marriage.
The Rev Canon Robert Cotton said: “We have made David Cameron’s job getting gay marriage through much easier — why should he take the Church of England seriously when it seems interested only in looking after its own?”
The Rev Canon Rosie Harper, a leading campaigner for women bishops, said: “It’s quite hard not to take it personally. I think institutionalised discrimination will continue and this is very bad news for the Church of England. ”
During the debate, Bishop Welby warned of the consequences of a failure to deal with “difference”.
Dr Williams had warned the Synod against “binding the extraordinary energies and talents” of his successor with many more years of bitter wrangling.
Dr Williams said: “Of course I hoped and prayed that this particular business would be at another stage before I left, and of course it is a personal sadness, a deep personal sadness that that is not the case.”
Fr David Houlding, of the Anglo-Catholic group Forward in Faith, said the “inevitable” happened but “there are no winners”.
The Rev Rod Thomas, of the evangelical group Reform, said: “It is very good news. We have avoided what could have been a disastrous mistake.”