The General Synod of the Church of England has voted to
reject the draft legislation to allow women to become bishops.
Under the requirements of the Synod the legislation required
a two-thirds majority in each of the three voting houses for final draft
approval. Whilst more than two thirds voted for the legislation in both the
House of Bishops (44-03) and the House of Clergy (148-45), the vote in favour
of the legislation in the House of Laity was less than two-thirds (132-74). The
vote in the House of Laity fell short of approval by six votes.
In total 324 members of the General Synod voted to approve
the legislation and 122 voted to reject it.
The consequence of the "no" vote of terminating
any further consideration of the draft legislation means that it will not be
possible to introduce draft legislation in the same terms until a new General
Synod comes into being in 2015, unless the 'Group of Six' (the Archbishops, the
Prolocutors and the Chair and Vice Chair of the House of Laity) give permission
and report to the Synod why they have done so.
Speaking after the vote the Rt Revd Graham James, Bishop of
Norwich, said: "A clear majority of
the General Synod today voted in favour of the legislation to consecrate women
as Bishops. But the bar of approval is set very high in this Synod. Two-thirds
of each house has to approve the legislation for it to pass. This ensures the
majority is overwhelming. The majority in the house of laity was not quite
enough. This leaves us with a problem. 42 out of 44 dioceses approved the
legislation and more than three quarters of members of diocesan synods voted in
favour. There will be many who wonder why the General Synod expressed its mind
so differently.
"The House of Bishops recognises that the Church of
England has expressed its mind that women should be consecrated as bishops.
There is now an urgent task to find a fresh way forward to which so many of
those who were opposed have pledged themselves."
The House of Bishops of the Church of England will meet at
08.30am on Wednesday morning in emergency session to consider the consequences
of the vote.
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