20 November 2012
Rt Rev Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham and
Archbishop-designate of Canterbury, spoke in favour of the
legislation to enable women to be bishops at the General Synod
today, as many spoke alternately in favour and against.
"The ministry of women priests," Bishop Justin
told the Synod, "has been powerful in all areas of the church
except as part of the episcopacy."
"It is time to finish the job and vote for this
measure. But also the Church of England needs to show how to
develop the mission of the church in a way that demonstrates that
we can manage diversity of view without division; diversity in
amity, not diversity in enmity," he said.
"This approach that we have before us today is I
believe, after much discussion with many people, as good as we can
get. . . our will and intention are far more important than the
rules.
"I am personally deeply committed, and believe
that fellow bishops are also, to ensuring, as far as I am able,
that what we promise today and later in the Code of Practice is
carried out faithfully in Spirit as well as in letter."
A vote is expected later this afternoon, after which, if the
legislation is approved, a second vote will be required on Draft
Amending Canon No 30 to bring the change into Canon Law, which
would be required before a woman could be consecrated as a
bishop.
Notes
The
audio is available on the Church of England website.
A transcript is included below.
There is a mandatory requirement for a picture credit +
byline for all of our General Synod pictures:
'Picture By Keith Blundy / Aegies
Associates'.
The relevant papers are:
Speech by the Bishop of Durham, Rt Rev
Justin Welby
Thank you for yesterday's warm welcome. Despite
looking embarrassed and confused, I did genuinely appreciate it
very much.
The Bishop of Salisbury reminded us that the
ministry of women in the last 20 years has contributed enormously
to the Church of England, and today we include thankfulness for
what has happened. For all our struggles, and with many set-backs,
the Church has gained from its decision of 1992. For most of those
coming to faith it is the normal order of things. The ministry of
women priests has been powerful in all areas of the church except
as part of the episcopacy. The Bishop of Liverpool very powerfully
set out the case in favour of what is before us today. It is time
to finish the job and vote for this Measure.
But also the Church of England needs to show how
to develop the mission of the church in a way that demonstrates
that we can manage diversity of view without division; diversity in
amity, not diversity in enmity. This is far more than showing that
what unites us is greater than what divides us, true as that is.
The church is above all those who are drawn into being a new people
by the work of Christ and the gift of the Spirit. We are reconciled
to God and to one another not by our choice but by His. That is at
the heart of our testimony to the gospel. For this testimony to be
convincing we must demonstrate it in lived reality, which is
something that we have to express in institutional life, in
Measures and rules and codes of conduct and in forms of dispute
resolution, which need not involve the courts, perfectly possible
in both law and experience today. All these are necessary and this
approach that we have before us today is I believe, after much
discussion with many people, as good as we can get, but as the
Bishop of Hereford just said, our will and intention are far more
important than the rules.
For all these reasons, as well as because of what
I have experienced in my own life, being converted into churches
that today in good conscience cannot accept this move, I am
personally deeply committed, and believe that fellow bishops are
also, to ensuring, as far as I am able, that what we promise today
and later in the Code of Practice is carried out faithfully in
Spirit as well as in letter. Expressing in attitude and by our
actions that we more than respect, but also
love one another, is a foundation stone for our
mission in this country and the world more widely. We cannot get
trapped into believing that this is a zero sum decision, where one
person's gain must be another's loss: that is not a theology of
grace.
As we talk, at this very moment, in places from
Israel and Gaza to Goma in the Congo, there is killing and
suffering because difference cannot be dealt with. We are those, we
Christians, are those who carry peace and grace as a treasure for
the world. We must be those who live a better way, who carry that
treasure visibly and distribute it lavishly.
I urge the General Synod to vote for this
motion.