This is now rather old news (forgive me, I'm still catching up), but The Times http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7114628.ece
reports earlier this week that that "ten out of the twelve" women tipped in official C of E circles to become bishops have indicated that they would be willing to comply with the code of practice (the announcement could come as soon as tomorrow - "take out the trash day," for devotees of the West Wing) likely to be imposed on traditionalists by the Church of England General Synod.
What a relief - that makes it O.K., then!
But I'm glad something is now out in the open. Let's hear no more nonsense about the action of the Holy Spirit in the selection of candidates for the Anglican episcopate.
Appropriately enough on General Election day, it's all politics now.
What a poor performance by Fr Houlding, Chairman the Catholic Group on General Synod, on the BBC Radio 4 “Sunday” programme this morning. We need media-trained advocates for the Catholic cause within the CofE. Fr Houlding wasted the interview by talking about the proposed Code of Conduct driving Anglican Catholics out of the church, but he didn’t explain why.
ReplyDeleteLet’s stop pussyfooting around and explain the basics. Except for the Sacrament of Baptism (which any Christian may administer in extremis), all Sacraments conferred by a woman priest or woman bishop are invalid. In the case of women bishops, any deacons or priests they ordain, or any bishops they consecrate, will themselves have invalid orders. A male priest ordained by a woman bishop will not be able to celebrate Mass in a Catholic Anglican parish because he will still be a layman. We must clearly explain to our people that they must check the validity of all clerics’ Orders before they perform any sacramental function. Catholic Anglicans in the CofE should demand that any validly ordained clergy must carry, and be prepared to display, a passport of sacramental authenticity. Without such a safeguard we are on the fast track to lay presidency.