Apostolic Secession: General Synod Legislates Bishopesses for the Church of England

Today's General Synod decision to introduce the innovation of a man-made office of female bishops in the Church of England evokes in an eerily reminiscent manner comments I made upon the election of Mrs Jefferts-Schori as Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church. To adapt what was written at that time:

With the legal creation of bishopesses for the Church of England, the Apostolic Succession of the C of E will soon be cast under an irreversible cloud of doubt and uncertainty. Where sacraments are uncertain or possibly invalid, orthodox moral theology always demands that the Church take the safest and surest course, which is the refusal to recognise such dubious sacraments as valid or efficacious. Otherwise sacrilege might occur, or yet, the deprivation of sacramental grace for the faithful. Women who will soon receive the rite of episcopal consecration will be the fontes sacramentorum, the fount and origin of the sacramental life, within their future respective dioceses. Future episcopal consecrations held within the Church of England will likely be conferred with at least the co-consecrating participation of those whose priestly and episcopal orders the Holy Catholic Church has never recognised and cannot and will not recognise as sacramentally valid. No Bishop, no Priesthood, no Eucharist, no Church. The Apostolic Succession of a once-Catholic Church is now in unmistakable jeopardy. The problem is strictly sacramentological, quite distinct from the personal beliefs and views of those women yet to be consecrated. They could be perfectly orthodox, biblical, in their moral and doctrinal teaching; the problem of their orders or lack thereof still exists. By virtue of today's decision, the Church of England will slowly and inescapably introduce over time a plainly suspect sacramental system into every Diocese of the Provinces of Canterbury and York.

Ironically, in the Church of England, it appears that the Papal Encyclical Apostolicae Curae of Pope Leo XIII (1896) will apply in future, not specifically because of a defect of form or a defect of intention, but because of a clear defect of minister. Pope Leo claimed the Anglican Succession died with Archbishop Matthew Parker in 1559 - that judgement was patently erroneous, from every conceivably objective theological examination. But now, tragically enough, a scenario described by Leo, the termination of Succession, may have been set to happen in the C of E. This is a theological consideration, not a social, cultural or political one. Sacramental assurance, the very assurance of grace and supernatural life for which Our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ instituted the Sacraments, will potentially evaporate from whole dioceses of the Church of England, because the chief minister of the sacraments in the local church, the Diocesan Bishop, could be one whose status casts doubt on the validity of subsequent sacramental actions in her diocese. A break in the Succession may occur in years to come once male bishops consecrated by women attempt to pass on their ministerial line and orders to others. The end result could be the cessation of an undoubtedly valid sacramental structure. The Sacrament of Holy Orders as understood by the Church Catholic would then no longer subsist in the Church of England. The realities of mutual reciprocity, interchangeability and recognition of ministry, and of communicatio in sacris, have been shattered in the Church of England.

And even worse yet, the General Synod refused to provide an alternative jurisdictional or diocesan structure or solution for those faithful orthodox Anglicans who wish from their deepest hearts in remain in communion with the Church of England and yet cannot in conscience accept a breach in the Church's received Tradition. Unlike the Act of Synod 1993, which promised and delivered pastoral care and jurisdictional place for orthodox Anglicans who could not in conscience accept the innovation of priestesses, today's legislation makes absolutely no legally-binding ecclesiastical provision for the continuance of sacramental life for Anglican Catholics. Faithful Catholic Anglicans are clearly being pressurised to leave the Church of England once and for all. A truly and unspeakably sad day for Anglicanism.

What will Forward in Faith do? Is Rome really the solution? What of the once-resounding clarion call of Dom Gregory Dix, that saint and prophet of the modern English Church, to create a Continuing Church in face of the Church of England's possible rejection of apostolic order? Let us pray for our beloved Catholic brethren who are still fighting the good fight of faith, that the Lord may guide them to the right decision...

York, Monday 7th July 2008

General Synod Vote - Initial Reaction

Forward in Faith and the Catholic Group in General Synod note with regret that, despite the clear advice of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of Durham, the Bishop of Winchester, the Bishop of Exeter and other Bishops, the Prolocutor of the Province of Canterbury and the Chairman of the House of Laity and the obvious lack of consensus, the General Synod today resolved to make no meaningful provision for those in conscience unable to receive the ministry of women bishops.

There must now be a period of prayerful reflection. However, members of both the General Synod and of the Church of England will understand that actions always have consequences.

Simon Killwick Chairman, Catholic Group in General Synod
Geoffrey Kirk Secretary, Forward in Faith
Stephen Parkinson Director, Forward in Faith


The actual legislation as passed: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/gsjul080707.html

That this Synod:
(a) affirm that the wish of its majority is for women to be admitted to the episcopate;
(b) affirm its view that special arrangements be available, within the existing structures of the Church of England, for those who as a matter of theological conviction will not be able to receive the ministry of women as bishops or priests;
(c) affirm that these should be contained in a statutory national code of practice to which all concerned would be required to have regard; and
(d) instruct the legislative drafting group, in consultation with the House of Bishops, to complete its work accordingly, including preparing the first draft of a code of practice, so that the Business Committee can include first consideration of the draft legislation in the agenda for the February 2009 group of sessions.’
The motion was carried by a division of the three houses of Synod.
House of Bishops - For 28, Against 12, Abstentions 1
House of Clergy - For 124, Against 44, Abstentions 4
House of Laity - For 111, Against 68, Abstentions 2