In July 2014, the General Synod of the Church of England after years of discussion since 1992 passed legislation that both allowed for the consecration of women as bishops, and made promises that traditionalists would continue to have an honoured place in the Church.

Sadly, tragically, disastrously and appallingly, these vows have now been broken. Following the announcement that Bishop Philip North, Bishop of Burnley, had been nominated to be Diocesan Bishop of Sheffield, a campaign was mounted by the Sheffield Alliance for Ministry Equality comprising people within the diocese, and powerful figures outside such as Martyn Percy the Dean of Christ Church Oxford, objecting to his appointment on the grounds that it would “represent the toleration of gender-based sectarianism”.

But the time for those arguments is past. General Synod settled the question that this would not be the result. Refusal to include in the Church those Bishops who disagree on the matter of the ordination and consecration of women, makes such sectarianism more and not less likely.

Questions must be asked. Bishop North was clearly intimidated and bullied. His resignation statement speaks of “highly individualised attacks on me.” Such bullying had already persuaded him to withdraw from being nominated to the suffragan see of Whitby in 2012. Did the bullies smell blood and decide to go for the jugular in 2017, to prevent a man widely recognised as being a gifted minister of the gospel with long experience in some of the most deprived urban parishes in England, from becoming a diocesan Bishop?

We must assume that his Archbishop, the Archbishop of York will have tried to encourage him to weather the storm. Being a single man Bishop North will have needed the support of friends and colleagues. But given that this campaign against him was well-organised within and beyond the Diocese of Sheffield, did the Archbishops of York and Canterbury, the ultimate guarantors of those vows, consider calling in its leaders, listening to their concerns, and as any Prime Minister would have done in other circumstances, making it clear to them that if they cannot accept the policy of the Church of England they should consider their position? And if not, why not?

Once vows are broken, trust is very difficult to restore.

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http://www.globalchristiannews.org/article/bullying-and-broken-vows-as-bishop-is-forced-out/