No Female Bishops for Proposed New Province

From The Living Church:

Posted on: January 20, 2009

Some Anglo-Catholics might be uneasy with the predominance of evangelicals among those seeking a third North American province of the Anglican Communion. But the leadership of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth has thrown its support behind the movement in part because of assurances that there will be no women bishops, according to the Rt. Rev. Jack L. Iker, Bishop of Fort Worth.

“Though we have our continuing differences over the issue of the ordination of women, Bishop Duncan and the [Common Cause Partnership] lead bishops have given assurances that there will be no women bishops in the new province and that the historic, traditional theological position on this matter will be protected, respected and welcomed,” Bishop Iker said.

“Anglo-Catholics, while grateful for this attitude, have called for a thorough theological and biblical study of the issue of the ordination of women as a top priority in the new province,” Bishop Iker said. “It must give due consideration to the reality that the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, which together comprise over 80 percent of the world’s Christians, have already spoken on this issue and that unilateral actions on our part have already seriously damaged ecumenical relations for the future. Are we willing to submit to the mind of the whole church? Are we really committed to abiding by common consent as determined by general councils?”

During its annual convention in November, an overwhelming majority of Fort Worth clergy and lay delegates voted for the second and decisive time to disaffiliate from The Episcopal Church and realign on a temporary basis with the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone.

Bishop Iker was a featured speaker at the Mere Anglicanism conference held Jan. 15-17 at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke and St. Paul in Charleston, S.C. The title of his address was “Global Anglicanism: Beyond the Elizabethan Settlement toward the New Anglican Conciliarism.”

The Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, now Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh and under the auspices of the Church of the Southern Cone, has been designated as primate-elect of the new province. The Rev. Peter Frank, director of communications for the Diocese of Pittsburgh, noted that an all-male episcopacy was enshrined in the canons of the proposed province.

“The key principle is how to submit to one another in a way that does not lead to breaking fellowship,” Deacon Frank said. “Consecrating a woman as bishop would break the fellowship we have worked so hard to achieve. It does require a significant sacrifice from our female clergy and many have expressed a willingness to make that sacrifice.”

Deacon Frank said it was unlikely that the canon specifying an all-male episcopacy would be repealed in the near future, adding that “any change on this issue would require overwhelming consensus first.”

Steve Waring