Monday, July 07, 2008

What the hell is a superbishop?

While the Canadian Anglican church careens towards what looks increasingly like an inevitable schism, the global Anglican church is headed in much the same direction. Not just over gay marriage, it turns out, but over something equally scandalous, the ordination of women. I was really disappointed to read this article. I thought that after I'd left the Evangelical Baptists, who at the time had just fought over the issue (my side lost), this wouldn't be too much of a problem anymore. Reason No. 22 why I won't actually call myself an Anglican despite my current preference for that denomination.

(Speaking of which, at the moment I've started going to a Catholic church. I'll write about that another time, perhaps.)

The article is both vague and flat-out wrong on the history so I'll provide my own. Activism during the 1960s led to a concession at the 1968 Lambeth Conference that there were no conclusive, Scripturally-justified arguments on either side of the debate. This is an interesting concession since a conservative could definitely argue that there is just such a Scriptural argument against the ordination of women, and also because it bears an intriguing parallel to Canada's current inconclusive approach to homosexual marriage.

During the 1970s, renegade provinces - Canada, the U.S. and Hong Kong - began ordaining women without formal international permission. At the 1978 Conference, there was an air of crisis over the issue, but it was resolved with a traditional Anglican compromise, one which unfortunately that church seems unwilling to apply to the present issue of gay marriage: live and let live. Provinces were allowed to decide for themselves on the issue of female ordination. The compromise was repeated at the 1988 Lambeth Conference, though shortly thereafter, New Zealand and the U.S. upped the ante by appointing the first female bishops.

By the 1998 conference, formal egalitarians commanded an international majority. The conference was attended by a dozen female bishops, all from Canada, the U.S., and New Zealand. This provoked outrage from some of the more extremist conservative bishops, who apparently believed that the uterus ruins one's ability to discern God's will. Most of the protestors were American; some decided to hold a parallel conference of their own, and others decided simply not to show up for sessions where women were present.

The conference won broad approval for formal gender equality, though with a disturbing compromise option available for those groups within the church who wished to preserve traditional morality, i.e. traditional sexism: the Church would supply acting bishops to parishes who didn't want to accept the authority of a woman over them. These bishops became known by the hilarious informal term of "flying bishops."

The new proposal would provide a formal framework for the informal "flying bishops," under which they'll now be known as "superbishops" and be made available anywhere there's a female bishop. The Daily Mail seems to think this is a new proposal, but actually it's just a formalization of the old policy. There are also rumors, incidentally, that some conservative bishops are considering moving back to Rome over the issue.

This is of course a ludicrous sham compromise and sooner or later will have to be resolved. Ironically, if they were shorter on ethics, some of the egalitarians might be able to win some friends by siding with the conservatives on the other issue that's now threatening schism, homosexuality. (This promises to start other fights at the 2008 Lambeth conference). The oppressor of my victim is my friend.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let them go to Rome! The Anglican Church was founded on compromise, but that compromise was equally satisfying to all members. The Anglican Church should continue to welcome conservatives, as they do all others, but they certainly shouldn't allow for bullying by conservatives in order to avoid schisms. Thanks for bringing up this interesting article and I look forward to your entry on your Catholic experience.

Sixth Estate said...

I think this may be a rather idealized vision of the foundation of the Church in question, but nevertheless your point remains valid, I think, with regard to the present-day church.

Anonymous said...

Unless you wish to read a lengthy document on what the CofE was and could be I think I will have to continue to give the reader's digest version, which is, by necessity, not a complete picture. Don't worry I will write a book on it some time, perhaps you could write a chapter.
Cheers.

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Fair enough; I yield the point.

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