Conger

The Australian House of Bishops has agreed to an informal “flying bishops” protocol, granting traditionalists opposed to the ministrations of women bishops alternative episcopal oversight.

Circulated amongst the bishops before the meeting by the Archbishop of Adelaide, adoption of the protocol was a prerequisite for the appointment of Australia’s first woman bishop. On April 11, the day after the protocol was announced, Perth Archbishop Roger Herft appointed Archdeacon Kay Goldsworthy as his suffragan.

The new bishop will be consecrated on May 22 and will attend July’s Lambeth Conference. She will join women bishops from New Zealand, Canada, the United States and Cuba in the gathering of the Communion’s 900 bishops. While the Australian Church’s appellate tribunal last year held there was no legal disqualification of women bishops, the bishops had agreed not to move forward until they had discussed the ramifications of the issue.

Reactions to Archdeacon Goldsworthy’s appointment were mixed. The Bishop of Northwest Australia announced that he would not permit the new bishop to officiate in his diocese, while the president of the Sydney-based Anglican Church League, Dr Mark Thomson said the Perth decision added a new level of difficulty to the relationship between the various dioceses in the Australia and raised questions of doctrine and discipline for those committed to “living out” the teaching of Scripture.

Bishop-elect Goldsworthy said she did not believe the move would split the church in Australia. “Women were first made bishops over 20 years ago in the Anglican Communion and the communion has continued to work,” she noted.

The bishops’ Women in the Episcopate protocol stated that they “recognised the good faith of those in the church who support the new development of women bishops and of those who find that they cannot do so.”

“They resolved to nurture the highest possible level of collegiality as bishops in the future,” the statement said, and they “agreed to make special provision in situations where the ministry of a woman bishop would not be welcome.”

The Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen said he was “pleased that there has been considerable goodwill during the formation of these protocols.”

An opponent of women bishops, Dr. Jensen said “action was needed to protect the consciences of those who believe, as we do, that the consecration of women bishops is against biblical teaching. There are strongly-held convictions which separate us but we have endeavoured to find a way forward with courtesy and respect.”