Women Priests after Ten Years.
A Review by Roger Beckwith
The Lincoln Theological Institute for the study of Religion and Society, which
now operates under the auspices of Manchester University, has sponsored an interesting
piece of research by Ian Jones into the degree of acceptance which has been
gained by women priests during the first ten years of their existence in the
Church of England. It had now been published by Church House Publishing at £17.50,
under the title Women and Priesthood in the Church of England: Ten Years
On.
The method pursued by the author has been to select three dioceses, three deaneries
and nine parishes, of varying standpoints, and ask them to answer a questionnaire.
The sample taken is obviously small. Three dioceses out of 44 is barely more
than one in fifteen, and nine parishes out of nine thousand is about one in
a thousand. However carefully and dispassionately such a sample is examined,
and with whatever panels of reference, the margin of error can only be regarded
as excessive. Moreover, since the dioceses, deaneries and parishes remain anonymous,
the reader can only form an impressionistic judgement of the appropriateness
of the author’s choice. All that can be said with confidence is that he
reproduces a questionnaire for clergy and a questionnaire for congregations
used, which go into considerable detail, and seem intended to be fair.
The conclusions drawn are, broadly, that the ministry of women priests is accepted
by many more members of the Church of England, clergy and lay, than reject it,
and that the proportion of clergy accepting it has somewhat grown. Two major
reasons for this growth, however, are that a considerable number of objectors
left in the Church of England in consequence of the decision, and that women
clergy themselves, by being counted among the other clergy, alter the proportions.
Those who were opposed at the outset are mostly still opposed, and opinions
have become rather more polarizing, eliminating intermediate views.
The author discusses why so few women priests, relatively speaking, are in senior
appointments (some of course are), and favours the suggestion that not many
of them in fact apply for senior appointments. He compares the situation in
the Church of Sweden, where, even after more than forty years, only 8% of women
priests become vicars, as against 42% of male priests.
He also discusses the future, and particularly, of course, the question of women
bishops. He notes that a third province has been called for by Forward in Faith,
if this goes ahead, but seems not to know why (flying bishops are only suffragan
bishops, and would not in conscience be able to serve under women bishops).
He confuses the comparatively long standing and cross party Third Province Movement
with Forward in Faith’s fairly recent adoption of the idea of a third province,
incidently. He notes how muddled people’s thinking is on the question of
the ‘reception’ of the decision on women priests and any future decision
on women bishops, and does not seem much clearer on the matter himself. He seems
unaware that it was the Ecclesiastical Committee of Parliament which called
for the proper provision for dissentients, thus leading to the 1993 Act of Synod
and flying bishops, and so does not require proper provision for dissentients
when presented with a measure authorizing the consecration of women to the episcopate.
The most useful thing he says in this context is that the teaching of Scripture
ought to be more seriously considered than it has been hitherto.
An issue which the report hardly touches on at all is the question of lay and
diaconal ministries for women. The priesthood (i. e. the presbyterate, for that
is what the Anglican formularies mean by the term) is not the only form of ministry
in the Christian church, nor is it necessarily the most suitable form for women.
Other forms flourished, particularly in Evangelical circles, before the introduction
of women priests, and could flourish again if they were allowed to. The old-fashioned
woman worker was the salt of the earth, and there still are deaconesses and
women deacons who have resisted pressure to become women priests. Their modesty
and faithfulness deserve admiration. Evangelicals were always champions of women’s
ministry, but when the campaign for women priests took centre stage, they rather
too hastily concluded that they needed to champion this form of women’s
ministry also, and so the proposal secured its necessary majorities, which without
their support it could not have done. If a time ever comes when the Church of
England, like the Lutheran Church of Latvia, decides that it has made a mistake
and must stop ordaining women priests, Evangelicals will not be at any loss
in finding alternative ministries for women.
Marriage
Another surprising omission in the report is that it gives no attention to the
relevance of marriage. The first generation of women priests contained a high
proportion of divorcees, but I have seen no evidence that this is a continuing
characteristic. Two aspects of marriage, however, are of permanent relevance.
The first is that women priests, if married, have to balance the demands of
the parish with the demands of the home. All Christian wives, if employed, have
to balance the demands of their job with the demands of their home, but someone
in the ordained ministry, who is a role- model to the congregation, has a particular
responsibility here. If the woman priest is a mother, it is her task to make
a good and loving home for her children, as is being increasingly recognised,
despite feminist propaganda to the contrary. And this may well mean that part-time
work in the parish is more suitable for her, and that an incumbency is ruled
out.
The other relevant aspect of marriage is that there is an increasing number
of marriages between male and female priests. Since they train in the same institutions,
this is not surprising. The modern egalitarian idea of marriage, as a body with
two heads, has been with us for some time, and already showed itself in the
marriage service of the proposed 1928 Prayer Book. It has contributed a good
deal, probably, to the prevalence of divorce, and now to the custom of living
together without the commitment of marriage. But in a marriage between two priests
it introduces a particular strain, because they want to have the leadership
of a congregation, possibly separated by a considerable distance, although they
live in the same home. How much simpler if one could agree to be the assistant
of the other, and perhaps to work part-time! But that would be like being a
deacon and not a priest - unthinkable.
Keeping the Faith
The report alludes to the booklet Believe it or not! What Church of England
clergy actually believe, published by Christian Research and Cost of Conscience
in 2003; but having alluded to it, it dismisses it without examination. It is
a report of a survey of the beliefs of clergy, independently conducted by Christian
Research, on a scientific basis, the previous year. It covered both doctrinal
and ethical teaching, and concluded that women priests and their supporters
held predominantly liberal views of a quite extreme kind. Of course, we all
know of women priests and supporters of the ordination of women who are essentially
orthodox, but the survey unfortunately shows that they are exceptions to the
rule. As long as this continues, women priests and their supporters will have
a mainly destructive influence in the church, and whatever degree of acceptance
they have achieved is likely to decline.
The More Remote Future
Ten years may seem a fair length of time, but it is not really very long. What
will the situation be after a period more like a generation? The Church of Scotland,
which of course is Presbyterian, but like the Church of England is the established
church of its country, introduced to the ordination of women not ten years but
35 years ago. And it is now experiencing a phenomenon that we have not yet seen
in this country, which is congregations consisting of entirely women. We have,
of course, in this country a fair number of women incumbents and priests-in-charge,
and in church parishes one notices that the church officers tend to be women
as well. But in Scotland they can see the next stage of the process, which is
that existing male members of the congregation may remain, but that when they
go there are no male members to replace them. We all regret that male churchgoers
tend to be fewer than female, but we may be heading for a situation where, in
many parishes, they become non-existent!