“The women bishops vote was a profoundly emotional experience, and it ended in disaster”

from Stand Firm by Sarah

This is an interesting first-hand account of the women bishops vote by a proponent—on the whole, it’s pretty fair to the opponents. I was most interested in the rhetorical tactics of the opponents, and I think they made a good choice in what to emphasize. It does not good to say “here are our theological objections” to those who support women’s ordination. Nobody cares about your theological objections [and I don’t say that happily].

From The Independent, where there is more:

I settled into my seat with keen anticipation. I knew that what I was about to witness would be a rearguard action. How skilfully would it be conducted? And how well would the captains of the main force, the present Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and his appointed successor, the Bishop of Durham, Justin Welby, make their case?

Since the break with Rome in the 1530s, the Church of England has been a broad church that could accommodate Protestants and Catholics alike. In today’s debate, the inheritors of those two positions, the conservative evangelicals and the traditional Catholics (not Roman!) joined forces.
The former believe that certain men are called by God to have the formal authority to teach doctrine faithfully as they care for their congregations. This is not to say that they think women lack the understanding or ability to teach doctrine, it is just not the role God has designated for them. The Catholic wing cares much more about the role of bishops than the evangelicals, but seeing themselves as members of the “universal church” they don’t believe that the Church of England can make this change on its own. They would want to move with the Roman and Orthodox Churches on this issue.

On the whole, though, the rearguard action was not conducted by rehearsing these arguments again. The opening speaker for the objectors said they could “live” with women bishops providing there were sufficient safeguards. What they want is legal provision whereby they could be sure that they would not be obliged to receive, even indirectly, the ministrations of women bishops.