Issue 155

Archbishop of Wales states women could be Bishops

08th May 2007

The Governing body of the Church of Wales met to begin discussions over the future of the Church, and particularly the admission of women to the episcopate, which could see and end to the church's current sexist policy that refuses to allow women to be Bishops in Churches throughout Wales.

The conference of leading clergymen from throughout Wales included the Archbishop of Wales, the Most Rev'd Dr Barry Morgan, along with five diocesan Bishops and approximately 200 other delegates.

Women priests were first ordained in the Church in Wales in the late 1990s and the Archbishop of Wales, The Most Rev'd Dr Barry Morgan, said he was 'totally convinced' by the theological arguments for the ordination of women bishops. Dr Morgan further continued by dividing his argument two fold, firstly "On the human side, the priest/bishop represents the Christian community to God and since the community consists of women as well as men, it is right that it [the episcopate] should be open to women as well as men." He then went on to add 'On the divine side since the priest/bishop represents the risen Christ who redeemed both men and women, ordaining women is a testimony to that redemptive inclusiveness.' Discussions took place on areas as diverse as education, the implications of devolution and the introduction of a new Welsh language scheme. The proposed Welsh language scheme was unanimously approved.

The University's Anglican Chaplain, Rev'd Nigel John, commented that; "it was an enormous privilege to welcome the decision making body of the Church in Wales to Swansea University for the very first time. We sincerely hope that they will return here again at some point in the near future".

The Church in Wales has made preliminary discussions over the appointment of women as Bishops, an issue which it has been considering since April 2006, when the Bench of Bishops, consisting of the Archbishop of Wales, five diocesan Bishops and two Assistant Bishops, commissioned a discussion document in the form of a special publication of 'Theology Wales'.

The discussion in 'Theology Wales' includes an article by Rev'd Mary Stallard about her first meeting with a woman Bishop in New York, along with a theological retrospective regarding the prominence of women in the bible.

The current discussion of the appointment of women Bishops within the Governing body of the Church in Wales is in the consultation stage, for which an explanatory note was released by the Bench of Bishops. The Bench of Bishops released a note, explaining that further discussion of the issue would occur at the next meeting of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales in September, at the University of Wales, Lampeter.

The discussions have occurred on an informal basis, with the overall objective of encouraging dialogue between the delegates. The Bench of Bishops, after an open discussion at the next Governing Body meeting, intend to prepare a Bill for the consideration of the Governing Body in April 2008.

Jason Sannegadu