From The Church Times-
TRADITIONALISTS believe that they have made enough gains in the elections to the General Synod to be able to block legislation on women bishops, when it returns from the dioceses. The election results for the new Synod were announced last week.
The conservative Evangelical group Reform and the Catholic Group on the General Synod have exchanged information on their candidates, and said that their analysis showed that 66 members of the new House of Clergy (32.1 per cent) and 77 members of the House of Laity (35.46 per cent) would “vote against the current women bishops legisla tion unless it is amended to give [better provision to] those who for conscious or scriptural reasons can not accept women bishops”.
In a statement, Reform and the Catholic Group said that, as only 34 per cent of the Houses of Clergy and Laity is needed to stop the legislation, “it can and will be blocked by both fully ELECTED houses” (their capitals).
Just one more person’s vote is needed in the House of Clergy to head off the legislation: “There are 21 new Evangelicals on this new Synod, and one out of a possible 58 undecided is a given!”
The Revd Rod Thomas, the chairman of Reform, said they had worked hard at analysing the election results to produce accurate figures. “We welcome the outcome of the elections, as it means that the voice of those who have strong theo logical objections to women bishops can no longer be steamrollered by the rest of General Synod, which is what happened previously.
“The onus is now on the House of Bishops to make proper, effective, statutory provision for those who can’t go along with women bishops. But”, he warned, “I am not confident in the slightest that they will do that, as they have always hesitated over the issue of passing jurisdiction away from a diocesan bishop to another bishop.
More here-
http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=102748
No comments:
Post a Comment