by Tim Wyatt, The Critical Friend
Regular readers of The Critical Friend will know there is simmering discontent within the Church of England over women’s ordination. Despite women being priests since 1994 and bishops since 2014, and now with a woman at the very top of the hierarchy too, the campaign group Women and the Church (WATCH) continue to lobby for reform.
Since last year they have been running their Not Equal Yet campaign, which wants to re-open the settlement dating to 2014 which finally resolved the women bishops issue. These Five Guiding Principles state that while the C of E has reached a final decision to open ordination to women, it respects those who cannot agree with this on theological grounds and these vicars and parishes are permitted to request male-only priests and bishops.
Most of the church, including many female clergy, saw this as a tolerable compromise which smoothed the passage for the enabling legislation through the General Synod. Yes, it is clearly uncomfortable — for some, actively unpleasant — for women priests and bishops (and now archbishops!) to have to share the church with a minority faction (a mixture of traditionalist Anglo-Catholics and conservative ‘headship’ evangelicals) who do not think they should even be ordained. But many saw it as a price worth paying to put the issue to bed once and for all, and to prevent a minor schism.
Sarah Mullally herself has experienced plenty of this rejection as she rose through the ranks as a vicar, cathedral canon, junior bishop, diocesan bishop and now ABC. In the Diocese of London in particular, she was regularly required to stand aside and ‘graciously’ refrain from ministering to traditionalists who would not accept her as bishop, instead ensuring they had a male bishop more to their liking on hand. But despite the pain this can cause, she has often said she does not want to compel those who disagree with her nor force them out of the church.
At the time of her appointment as Bishop of London in 2018, many openly said it was inconceivable for a woman to be named to the role given the strength of the traditionalist constituency in the diocese. And yet over seven years Mullally found a way to make it work. Some of the clergy leading London’s largest traditionalist churches have spoken of their gratitude and respect for her, as the first woman to inhabit the role. Despite the deep differences that characterise the diocese, they do seem to have all found a way to make it work.
London has the highest number of parishes which have formally requested a male bishop in the country: 56 traditionalist Anglo-Catholic ones and a further 24 conservative evangelical churches. In total, about one in five of all churches in the diocese are opposed to women’s ordination.
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