ITEMS OF INTEREST August 30, 2010 Issue

ITEMS OF INTEREST

with contributions from Sylvia Hui

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND national assembly decided [July 12] that women should be allowed to become bishops, making only minor concessions to theological conservatives who have threatened to break away over the issue.

Dioceses will now consider the draft law, which would leave it up to individual bishops to allow alternative oversight for traditionalists who object to serving under women bishops. The dioceses must report back by 2012 and a final vote by the ruling body, the General Synod, will still be needed, but supporters say a milestone has been passed.

"The decision to consecrate women as bishops has been taken," said church spokesman Lou Henderson. "Everybody recognized the importance of offering safeguards and assurances to those who find it very difficult (to accept women bishops), but in the end Synod as a whole was not prepared to go as far as the traditionalists would have liked."

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