Global South Anglican

We are grateful to Archbishop Rowan Williams for his recent reminder to the church that “...(as has often been forgotten) the Lambeth Conference did resolve that for the time being those churches that did ordain women as priests and bishops and those that did not had an equal place within the Anglican spectrum.” The Anglican concept of an open process of reception holds that the verdict is still out on this one, until the whole catholic church comes to a consensus, on one side or the other of this contentious issue.

Since the introduction of the ordination of women to the priesthood in The Episcopal Church (first illegally and then legally after the 1976 General Convention), the Diocese of Fort Worth has declared its opposition to this innovation. We then opposed the first ordination of a woman to the episcopate in 1989, in the same way and on the same grounds — as a matter of conviction and conscience.

With the election of the first female Presiding Bishop in The Episcopal Church, it is important to restate those grounds. We believe these innovations, which affect our koinonia and communio in sacris both among Anglicans worldwide and with our senior ecumenical partners in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and ancient Oriental Orthodox churches, have insufficient warrant in scripture, and no warrant or requirement in the apostolic tradition of the church, to justify such a change in the historic practice of the Church.

Nevertheless, we acknowledge that fellow Anglicans abroad and fellow Episcopalians here sincerely believe otherwise. While maintaining our own conviction about the sacramental validity of such ordinations, we have accepted the fact that women have met the canonical requirements in order to be ordained as priests and bishops in The Episcopal Church. Parishes in the Diocese of Fort Worth that require the ministry of ordained women, in consequence, have been able to do so through an arrangement with our neighboring Diocese of Dallas. As Bishop of Fort Worth, I have long experienced an impaired relationship with the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church, unable to share fully in eucharistic fellowship with all its members. Nevertheless, we have attempted to remain in the “highest possible degree of communion” with other dioceses of The Episcopal Church and with all those provinces in the Anglican Communion that have ordained women.

We now face acutely the question of our future in this church. It has long seemed clear to us that the respect we have shown for the opinions and actions of others has not been reciprocated. In 1997, the General Convention adopted canons making the ordination of women mandatory in every diocese of this church. The General Convention of 2000 created a task force charged with bringing into compliance the three remaining dioceses where women are not ordained or licensed as priests. The task force entered this diocese and conducted interviews with those opposed to the official position of the diocese, without my permission as bishop, and indeed, even over my objections, at a time when I was out of the country on other business. We have long feared that the election in Fort Worth of a bishop opposed to the ordination of women to the priesthood would not gain the required consents of the other dioceses of The Episcopal Church to allow the consecration to take place. For this reason, we made an appeal to the Archbishop’s Panel of Reference in July of 2005. That appeal is still pending. We now face the prospect of a chief consecrator who is a woman at the consecration of the next bishop of this diocese. That clearly is unacceptable to us. A relationship of collegiality and shared apostolic ministry is seriously impaired when the Presiding Bishop is one whose orders we cannot in conscience accept.

The election of a woman as Presiding Bishop comes at a critical time in the life of the Church of England, as it has approved the initial steps to the issue of female bishops at General Synod this summer. We recall the sentiments of the Archbishop of Canterbury in a different context — the appointment of Jeffrey John to the See of Reading – when he said:

“... there is an obvious problem in the consecration of a bishop whose ministry will not be readily received by a significant proportion of Christians in England and elsewhere.”

The office of the Presiding Bishop is a symbol and principal instrument of unity in The Episcopal Church. By the election of a woman to that office, dioceses and congregations that cannot in conscience receive her ministry are placed in an increasingly impaired relationship with the larger church in this country, which is not of their own choosing. Her election is naturally seen as a further imposition of the will of the majority on the three dioceses which are regarded as “non-compliant” and obstructions to progress, rather than honored partners in ministry.

If the Diocese of Fort Worth and the dioceses of The Episcopal Church which have accepted the ordination of women to the priesthood and the episcopate are to live together in accordance with Resolution III.2 of the Lambeth Conference 1998, there needs to be a way forward which acknowledges the difficulties created by the election of a woman as Presiding Bishop. We look to the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury for a solution to our dilemma, which will allow Resolution III.2 to have effect in The Episcopal Church and which will permanently allow this diocese that distinct theological integrity which Lambeth 1998 has assured to us, and which other Anglican dioceses and provinces presently enjoy.

We realize that the Archbishop of Canterbury has a limited sphere in which to maneuver. We do not seek the impossible. We ask for some pastoral strategy whereby we might come under his primatial oversight and pastoral care (or that of another appointed by him) until such time as the primates’ meeting and the other instruments of unity of the Communion are enabled to consider our predicament and offer us help and protection. We cannot believe that because we are in a minority in this church we can be required to receive and endorse, in the person of the Presiding Bishop, a ministry which we have heretofore consistently, courteously and legitimately refused, and which is neither legitimate nor welcome in the greater part of the Communion.

We can live with variant practices and mutual respect on the ordination of women in the Anglican Communion Network. Why is this denied us in The Episcopal Church?

The Rt. Rev. Jack Leo Iker is the Bishop of Fort Worth.