Living with Diversity: Bishop of Gloucester addresses Credo Cymru Conference

Sep 23, 2016 by Jill

from Forward in Faith:

Credo Cymru has issued the following media release.

At a conference organized by Credo Cymru, the body representing traditionalist beliefs in the Church in Wales, the Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, has spoken about living with diversity over women’s ordination. ‘Key to my experience of living the English diversity in a healthy way’ she said, ‘has been a commitment to intentional relationship and mutual flourishing, and a willingness to live with hopeful imagination.’

The conference, ‘That Nothing Be Lost: A Conference to Preserve the Breadth of Welsh Anglicanism’, was held in Cardiff on 21-22 September and attended by the Archbishop of Wales. It was characterized by diversity: the 34 participants (27 from Wales, 7 from England) included women ordained to all three orders, bishops and priests representing a range of views on women’s ordination, and lay members (predominantly female) of Credo Cymru.

The conversations were characterized by openness, honesty and listening, and a relaxed atmosphere. Both ordained women and traditionalists spoke of a new feeling of affirmation from those with whom they disagreed.

In opening presentations, the Ven. Dr Will Strange (Archdeacon of Ceredigion and Vice-Chair of the Evangelical Fellowship in the Church in Wales) spoke of the ‘silencing of the catholic voice’. Canon Joanna Penberthy called for ‘a conversation about how we work together’ but noted the significance of a cultural context opposed to discrimination. Fr Ben Rabjohns hoped not for comfort, or to be able to ignore the decision to ordain women as bishops, but – as a 30-year-old incumbent – for the security and certainty of a long-term future that were essential for traditionalists to be able to flourish. As a priest, he needed episcopal ministry that involved a continuing relationship, not just occasional episcopal acts.

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