Beyond belief: vote on women bishops has made Church 'an irrelevance' says Hackney clergywoman

 
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Michael Howie21 November 2012

One of London’s most prominent clergywomen today said the controversial rejection of female bishops has made the Church of England “an irrelevance”.

Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin, who was among those hotly-tipped to become a bishop, also suggested an urgent overhaul of the church’s policy-making body was needed.

The prospect of female bishops was last night extinguished for the next few years at least when the General Synod voted down the plan - to the dismay of huge sections of the church.

Rev Hudson-Wilkin, the vicar of Holy Trinity Dalston and All Saints Haggerston in east London, said the vote will do the Anglican church “a huge amount of damage”.

The measure was passed by the synod’s houses of bishops and clergy but was narrowly rejected by the House of Laity.

She told the Standard: “I feel a huge sense of disappointment on behalf of the church. I think the church is now left in a position where it is looking rather foolish and silly and out of touch.

“Forty-two out of 44 dioseces said ‘yes we want to have women bishops’. This has serious implications for the General Synod - that it could vote against what the people said they wanted.

“The archbishop desperately tried to embrace everybody and hold everyone on board. They really tried to do that which is why they put forward all of these various amendments.

“But these are people who had no intention of being held together. Far from it.

“This cannot come back in the life of this Synod, which has another three years to go. So it will be another four years before it can be brought back on the agenda of the Synod.

“I hope the Archbishop and the House of Bishops have the courage to have a single clause saying ‘do we want women bishops?’ and not spend all this time agonising.

“This does a huge amount of damage to the church. We have made ourselves an irrelevance.

“I think (the House of Laity) needs to reflect what the dioceses ask for, what the rest of the dioceses that they came from are asking for. They didn’t represent that view. That is something that must be looked at.

“We’ve now got an Archbishop coming into place who is going to be spending his tenureship having to go through this whole thing again instead of focusing on mission. We’re going to end up naval-gazing at ourselves. That cannot be helpful.”

Lucy Winkett, the rector of St James’s Piccadilly, said the synod was “detonating its credibility with contemporary Britain”.

The outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, spoke of his “deep personal sadness” after the vote.

His successor, the Rt Rev Justin Welby, the current Bishop of Durham, were in favour of a “yes” vote.

Last night his daughter, Katharine Welby, took to Twitter to say she was “disappointed” with the vote.

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