Source:  The Guardian (UK)

July 12, 2010

By Riazatt Butt

Traditionalists leave General Synod empty-handed. They had arrived on Friday, confident that, if their demands went unheeded, the ruling body of the Church of England would at least bow to the will of the archbishops who made an unprecedented intervention on their behalf.

Conservative evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics asked for extra dioceses or a male bishop who did not ordain women. Over and over for four days in York, synod showed it was not prepared to enshrine such provisions in canon law, because they would have undermined the authority of female clergy and reinforced public perception of the established church being out of order and out of touch.

Despite their defeat, traditionalists remain convinced they can influence the final vote in 2012, by securing greater representation in the forthcoming synod election.

Some groups, such as Reform, have already confirmed they will vote against the legislation when it returns to the York debating chamber in two years regardless of the future synod's composition; it presently has clergy making up a third of its 1,500 members. . .

Conservative evangelicals worldwide have access to like-minded archbishops and bishops in Africa and the US, but those in England have yet to take advantage of it. Some parishes in the US, having severed ties with the Episcopal Church, have affiliated themselves with clergy in African countries including Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda.

Sarah Finch, a synod member from London, was unequivocal when she said that conservative congregations in this England would seek alternative oversight if adequate provisions were not made. . .

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