Anglo-Catholic clergy consider mass conversion after Lambeth
By Anna Arco
27 June 2008

A crucial meeting of the General Synod of the Church of England takes place next month

Proposals in the Church of England to consecrate women bishops could cause a large number of Anglo-Catholic clergy to defect to Rome if their concerns remain unmet at next month's General Synod, it has been claimed.

Forward in Faith, a group that represents some 1,000 traditionally minded Anglicans, expects some 500 members of its clergy to abandon the Church of England if the House of Bishops does not grant wider provisions for traditionalists at July's General Synod.

Stephen Parkinson, the director of Forward in Faith, believes that the majority of the estimated 500 clergymen would submit to the Holy See if their demands are not met.

He said: "It's the obvious destination for Anglican Catholics. In 1992-93 many who left the Church of England submitted to Rome, mostly ordained but not all of them.

"The ones that didn't go over then stayed because they thought the Church of England wanted them to stay because of all the provisions that were made for them - the Act of Synod, the provincial episcopal visitors, or "flying bishops", and so on. If those provisions are abolished they will go, and most of them will submit to the Holy See."

The House of Bishops, one of the three houses of the General Synod, narrowly voted to allow the consecration of women bishops.

Under the proposals for the consecration of women bishops traditionalist Anglicans who cannot in conscience accept women clergy would not have recourse to the sort of legal structure that was accorded to them with the Act of Synod in 1993 when women priests were introduced into the Church of England. Instead, dioceses installing women bishops would be required to follow a voluntary code of conduct, not to discriminate against traditionalists.

Mr Parkinson said: "Voluntary codes of practice do not work, as was illustrated by the vicar of St Bartholomew-the-Great [who conducted a wedding-style ceremony for two gay priests] in Smithfield last week."

Still, Mr Parkinson urged caution ahead of the General Synod, which begins on July 4, saying that he thought it was unlikely that the voluntary code of practice would be pushed through.

He said: "The bishops are middle-class, middle-aged and middle-of-the-road and will tend much more towards the middle ground, going neither to one extreme or the other."

Mr Parkinson said that the "other extreme" would involve the creation of new dioceses made up of "non-contiguous parishes". These dioceses would minister entirely to priests and laity whose consciences could not allow female bishops.

They would follow the model of "flying bishops" created to look after the pastoral and sacramental needs of traditionalists who could not accept the ordination of women priests.

He said: "That's nothing new. An ecclesiastical body like the Church of England has established new dioceses from time to time. It has even closed dioceses in the past. This is a way of doing it, using the existing structures and laws, which would offer a straightforward solution."

Mr Parkinson said the number of 500 clergymen who would leave the Church of England if the voluntary code of practice were to be passed was entirely plausible.

He said: "There are 350 parishes which are ministered to by provincial episcopal visitors, which would mean approximately one priest from every parish; then one needs to consider priests in dioceses where there are almost no - or very few - women priests such as Chichester, parts of London and Blackburn, who might object. And then one must think about clergy in the public sector: chaplains etc who might not in conscience be able to accept women bishops. Once all these things have been taken into account, 500 seems to me to be quite a plausible number."

Anglican Bishop John Broadhurst of Fulham, the chairman of Forward in Faith, said: "The voluntary code of practice is not satisfactory. The Act of Synod gave us an ecclesiastical solution, and we will be happy with nothing short of legislation."