Church of England votes to ordain women as bishops

After a 40 year struggle, women will now be bishops in the Church of England. This was the result of  a historic vote in the General Synod today, July, 14, 2014.

An overwhelming 81 per cent of Synod members backed the change, during the sitting in York, and 75 per cent of the laity supported the move.

The implication of the vote is that the next Archbishop of Canterbury or York could be a woman. 

Earlier attempts to get women to be bishops in the church had thrown the church into some serious crisis in the past.

The Telegraph, UK, reported that female clerics and supporters of the change -­ many of them dressed in pink ribbons and bow ties – had earlier queued for a seat in the public gallery to witness the sitting on the university campus. 

As the debate neared its end Archbishop Welby stood up to issue a personal pledge that the culture of the church would change to ensure that traditionalists still felt welcome in the Church of England after women bishops are introduced. 

“It will be hard work, progress will be all but impossible to achieve without a fresh embrace of one another in love,” he said. 

“Today this legislation allows us to move forward together, all of us as faithful Anglicans, all of us committed to each other’s flourishing and the life of the Church not just in what we say but in how we now live and work together in the months and years ahead. 

“That is as true for those who find this difficult to accept as it is for those who rejoice in it and vice versa.”

He said the legislation included a legally binding commitment to ensuring that those who object to women bishops continue to “flourish” in the Church. 

But Jane Bisson, a female lay member for Winchester, was not happy with the new law. She had held up a black leather clad Bible and urged members to vote against it, predicting a split in the church if they did not. 

“Are we saying that the Bible doesn’t matter anymore and it’s the world we follow?

“For good reasons Jesus did not have any male apostles – he did have women prophets, women praying but not women apostles.”