The recent disappointment over the failure of the Church of England Synod finally to approve the ordination of woman bishops has brought the matter under a political spotlight, with suggestions that parliament should remove the exemption of the CoE from the provisions of equality legislation, the removal of the existing (all male) bishops from the House of Lords, or both. Any such removal of the equality exemption would have implications for ordination as Anglican bishops not only for women, but also for gay men and transgender priests. There could also be implications for the Catholic Church: in a posting at the UK Call to Action website, one contributor has described how she has written to her MP on the subject:
It is very interesting that my excellent MP, Frank Field, has introduced a Bill to Parliament seeking to remove the temporary exclusion granted to the Anglican Church regarding sexual equality. Frank sees to remove that so that the Church cannot exclude women priests from becoming bishops. I wrote to ask if he could extend the removal of the exclusion also to the Catholic Church. It would be interesting to know what effect this could have in the UK.
Filed under: church reform, Church Structures / Ecclessiology | Tagged: women bishops, women deacons, women priests, women’s ordination. Catholic Church | 1 Comment »
The Joy of Traditional Catholicism
Mark Jordan is a Catholic academic and writer whom I always find stimulating and exciting. He is highly regarded for his historical work as a medievalist, but that historical perspective has also made him a notable commentator and analyst on issues facing the Catholic church. Far too often, people (and I am including here a great many who should know better) speak glibly of Catholic or Christian “tradition”, totally ignoring the simple fact that the positions they are presenting are not traditional at all. In their historical research, Jordan and others have clearly shown just how much of what is presented as “tradition” on sexuality and marriage is nothing of the sort. (See, for instance, my summaries on these points in “Give me back that Old Time Religion“, and “The Church’s Changing Tradition” ).
Early Christian Agape Feast, Catacomb painting (Wikimedia)
This is an important point in the continuing discussion about Vatican II. There are those who see it as a dangerous attempt to overturn the “traditions” of the Church in the interests of “modernity”. It was not. An important part of the significance of the council was precisely that it was an attempt to go behind the (relatively ) “modern” innovations of the modern period, to return to truly “traditional” teaching. Bishop Geoffrey Robinson has usefully summarised some of the ways in which the Council returned to authentic tradition. It: Continue reading →
Filed under: Church History, Progressive catholicism | Tagged: bible, catholic commentators, LGBT, Mark D Jordan, peter steinfels, Progressive catholicism, reporting, Traditional Catholicim, traditional religion, women priests | 8 Comments »