A PETITION calling for a bar on the appointment of diocesan bishops who do not accept the ordination of women has been launched by Women and the Church (WATCH).
It was published on the website change.org on 24 April, in response to the publication of the Statement of Needs by the vacancy-in-see committee in the diocese of London.
While some committees have specified that they seek a bishop who will ordain women, the London statement seeks “someone who evidences a strong track record of advancing ordained women’s ministry and enabling its flourishing, irrespective of whether they personally will or will not ordain women to the priesthood”.
It stipulates that the candidate should be “someone with a strong track record in mutual flourishing, working well across traditions, with gospel generosity, which will include evidence that they will be able to operate the London Plan to give full effect to the House of Bishops’ Declaration on the Ministry of Priests and Bishops and its Five Guiding Principles, so that all vocations can be advanced and celebrated.”
The WATCH petition states: “We do not want a bishop who does not ordain women as priests or recognise the spiritual authority of female bishops — including the archbishop of Canterbury! Such a bishop would be a sign of division rather than unity. We would not accept his authority.
“We also call for a change in the Church’s rules, so as to preclude the possibility of such an appointment. We seek the amendment of the Declaration and the Five Guiding Principles to ensure that no opponent of women’s ordination is ever again appointed to a diocese. It is too glaringly contrary to episcopal order and Church unity, that a diocesan bishop can oversee clergy whose authority he denies. We demand a vote in Synod on the issue.”
On Wednesday, it had been signed by more than 900 people. The primary signatory is Dr Theo Hobson, a theologian and journalist who is training for the priesthood.
A joint statement issued on Tuesday by Forward in Faith, the Church Society, and ReNew said: “We are glad to see the ongoing commitment of the Diocese of London to the mutual flourishing of men and women in ministry, and especially their commitment to the House of Bishops’ Declaration and the Five Guiding Principles, which allows for those who cannot in good conscience accept the priestly ministry of women to continue to flourish in ministry at all levels of the Church of England.”
The Statement of Needs “takes a substantially similar position on this issue to their last Statement of Needs, which led to the appointment of Sarah Mullally”, it said.
The national director of the Church of England Evangelical Council, the Revd John Dunnett, said: “Whoever is appointed as the next Bishop of London will, we trust, be committed to the five Guiding Principles. Of even greater and primary importance, they must hold to, teach and advocate the doctrine and teaching of the Church of England as we have received it.”
The House of Bishops’ Declaration that accompanied the 2014 legislation enabling women to be consecrated to the episcopate says that, in a statement of needs, “dioceses are entitled to express a view . . . as to whether the diocesan bishop should be someone who will or will not ordain women.
“In dioceses where the diocesan bishop does not ordain women he should ensure that a bishop who is fully committed to the ordained ministry of women is given a role across the whole diocese for providing support for female clergy and their ministry.”
It also states that “it will be important that senior leadership roles within dioceses continue to be filled by people from across the range of traditions.”
The diocese of London has the largest number of parishes that have passed a Resolution of any diocese: 56 traditionalist Catholic parishes and 24 conservative Evangelical parishes, totalling roughly one in five.
Under the London Plan, in place since the 1990s, the Bishop of Fulham ministers to traditional Catholic parishes and the Bishop of Ebbsfleet to conservative Evangelical parishes.
The 52-strong vacancy-in-see committee includes several people who attend Resolution churches, including its chair Sarah Tett, who attends Christ Church, Kensington.
The retirement of the Bishop of Chichester, Dr Martin Warner, at the end of this month will leave just one diocesan bishop who does not ordain women to the priesthood: the Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Revd Philip North. Besides the Bishop of Fulham and three Provincial Episcopal Visitors, there is one traditionalist suffragan, the Bishop of Lewes.
The Bishop of Ebbsfleet, the Rt Revd Rob Munro, is the only conservative Evangelical bishop who does not ordain women.
A 2021 report on the outworking of the 2014 settlement that enabled women to be bishops heard of concern among both traditional Catholics and conservative Evangelicals about “a lack of senior appointments, especially to episcopal ministry, and that when those appointments have been made, they are criticised or questioned”. It also heard concern “about whether someone in a senior position who does not support women’s ordination can genuinely support the vocations and ministry of female clergy”.
Bishop North’s translation from Burnley to Blackburn in 2023 followed his withdrawal from his nomination as Bishop of Sheffield in 2017, after an outcry that reached the national press.
An independent review found that the reaction to his nomination had been “costly for him in psychological and emotional terms”.
There had been no attempt during during the vacancy-in-see process or by the Crown Nominations Commission to consider the implications of appointing a non-ordaining bishop to the vacancy, the review concluded.
The 2021 report — commissioned in response to the independent review — found that between 2014 and 2019, one traditionalist suffragan had been appointed and one complementarian Evangelical.
There were no representatives of these groups among the residentiary canons or deans appointed, and just one traditionalist Catholic among the archdeacons.
The group found evidence from appointments processes that understanding of the Declaration was “at best patchy across the Church”.
Some members of diocesan vacancy-in-see committees were “surprised when they are asked whether their diocese would accept a non-ordaining bishop, because they claim not to be aware the Church still has bishops who do not ordain women”.
The Church’s failure to explain the settlement to its own constituency had left it “on the back foot when it becomes necessary to explain its position to elements in wider society”.
On Wednesday, a diocese of London spokeswoman said: “The Committee agreed that as wide a field of candidates should be considered as possible for the appointment of our next Bishop.”