Women Bishops? Don't panic

First, let us remember that most people's dealing with the clergy of the Church of England is at parish level. The ordination of women as priests twenty years ago has been a seismic shift in the Church and it is all the better for it. It may be significant that the diocese of Chichester which seems racked with problems connected to abuse is the most institutionally anti-women one in the Church of England. Most people on the edge of the church come across their women vicars at weddings and funerals, at Christmas, where, in my experience, they have a type of pastoral care very different from that of the men: it is good to have both in the Church of England.

Secondly, the vote was lost in the House of Laity. The extremes of the church often consist of the most passionate, and the result is that the House of Laity is very unrepresentative of the Church nationally. It is a matter for the huge, moderate and welcoming middle of the church to get onto Synod and stop this nonsense. Most people in the pews want women in leadership.

Thirdly, the extremes. The sort of Anglo-Catholics who oppose women priests often seem to have a total blindspot when it comes to reality. The lovers of Rome forgets that the Pope doesn't recognise us as a real church and these priests as real priests. We are the Church of England which, after centuries of tension with the imperialist master in the Vatican claimed once again that we do not need to be told what to do by a legalistically-minded and corrupt foreign leadership. The Church of England is as it is because we took on renaissance thought, the enlightenment and the historic and scientific method of thought, and are open to the real world. We don't need Rome. Rome follows us, usually centuries later. One day the Roman Catholics will have married clergy, then women clergy. We are the Research and Development Arm of the Universal Church.

And when it comes to some of these Evangelicals, the Reform type. They treat the Scriptures of the Church as though they are the Qur'an. They say nonsensical things like, 'The Bible teaches. . .' The Bible can be used for every viewpoint to prove anything. It is not Law. That is why we are Christians and not Jews. We do not need Laws to be saved. They start with a view and find Scriptural proof, as though Nahum or Jude had the final word. They forget that it is Christ who is God's Word, and that the Holy Spirit is leading us, as she has always led us into new truths. Their thinking is naive and lazy and they are a terrible threat to truth: and Jesus Christ is Truth, not some random quotation from Scripture.

Ten years ago I thought that Rowan Williams could deal with these things. His legacy is that he didn't. The great teacher didn't teach.

So our challenge is to demand reality and honesty from the bullying branches of the Church, and let our (often wonderful) women priests continue their ministry.

On Bishops - remembering Philip Strong

With Justin Welby's recent appointment, my thoughts have been on Bishops. Actually on one particular Bishop, Philip Strong, who was a pioneering missionary in Papua New Guinea from 1936 and then leader of the Anglican Church in Australia from 1962 to 1970.
I knew him in his last few years, and he was a passionate and prayerful Anglo-Catholic, but what made him very significant was a radio broadcast he made in PNG in 1942, which can be read at http://anglicanhistory.org/aus/png/strong_message1942.html.

He led a large mission force who were faced with the approaching Japanese invasion. Strong said clearly in his broadcast that he, and his co-workers had to stay.

 'We could not leave unless God, who called us, required it of us, and our spiritual instinct tells us He would never require such a thing at such an hour.

Our people need us now more than ever before in the whole history of the mission.  .  .

No, my bothers and sisters, fellow workers in Christ, whatever others my do, we cannot leave. We shall not leave. We shall stand by our trust. We shall stand by our vocation.'

Of course in Britain the lot of the Bishops and clergy is not like this. The new archbishop will not face a terrifying invasion. But if we are to be a church which has a backbone, we need to remember people like Philip Strong, and his missionaries, eight of whom were martyred by the Japanese.

Strong advocated taking people into the hills, rather than staying to be killed, and his practical advice as well as his honest and heroic vision is a  model for us all.

A New Archbishop of Canterbury

So Rowan is now no longer of interest to the media.  He can get back to what he is so good at, being a free academic to inspire people.

And now Eton has provided Prince William, the Prime Minister, the Mayor of London and the Archbishop of Canterbury. I am something of a fan of Eton; and have known some very nice people from there. But what has happened in the last 30 years is that the UK can no longer provide an education which will bring people from the state system to positions of leadership. I have no problem with +Justin: but what this says about our society and church is profoundly worrying.

Giles Fraser in the Guardian today (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2012/nov/09/justin-welby-archbishop-infantile-projections?INTCMP=SRCH) made a very good point about the desperate way in which people want a father-figure. The great thing about the Church of England is that Bishops have so little power. The Archbishop has no legal power outside his diocese, and of course we do not depend on an infallible Pope. It allows people the freedom to think without being stuck with a hard line in dogma, but within a framework and tradition.

The problem has been that the accidental growth of the Anglican Communion is that people imagine we have to be like the Roman Catholics. We don't. We could be like the Orthodox and simply be a family with no bureaucracy, office or binding statements. No need for a father figure, just being together as families are.

In the end +Justin needs to encourage people to continue being the church where they are, and the last thing we want is an Anglican pope.