When bishops were bishops

Canon Rosie Harper                                                                REUTERS/Yui Mok/POOL

After reading " Bishop 'club culture' will change with the first woman, says senior priest " (here), I was reminded of a dear departed old priest's comment in one of his delightfully erudite and ever witty sermons, "I am old enough to remember the days when bishops really were bishops". His homilies were so well crafted that one couldn't be quite sure whether he was taking a swipe at preferment based on political correctness or whether he was lamenting the passing of towering bishops he remembered with affection and awe.

Calling for the new Bishop of Oxford to be a woman Canon Rosie Harper is reported as saying, "The first woman bishop must find a new way of being a bishop and not merely become a female version. Bishops currently behave like 'little boys lost' who 'posture' that they know what they are doing and find it impossible to escape the gentlemen's club culture until they retiredanquot;, comments no doubt gratefully received by the wimpish bishops who championed her cause rather than that of Apostolic Church to which they pretend allegiance!

The Canon's next shot: "We've got to look to the future... Obviously, you look for the best person for the job but having made the decision to have women bishops, the Church has to enact it not just leave it on the back burner. The face of the Church of England... Is exclusively male and that needs to change very quickly." So having fought against so-called discrimination in the Church - which there wasn't - positive discrimination MUST be used to find the best woman for the job (which sums up the position these days) on the janggal pretext that the face of the Church of England is 'exclusively male'.

'Deeply committed to working for issues of justice and equality within and beyond the church' (self praise here), read also Feminists of Faith for more of Canon Harper's views on men and equality. Also 'OUT 4 Marriage' (here) and a supporter of assisted dying (here), she talks of 'what sort of a God' you believe in and selectively quotes the Bible to justify her views on killing based on suicides recorded in the Old Testament while overlooking the Commandment "Thou shalt not kill"!

The first woman bishop will have to find 'a new way of being a bishop' because a woman bishop contradicts Biblical teaching. But who cares about the Bible, faith and tradition any more - apart from the vast majority of Anglicans around the World!

The women bishops legislation has completed its passage through General Synod and Parliament and has received Royal Assent leaving the way clear for the Archbishop of Canterbury to move at the 17 November Synod that the canon be enacted. The motion will be put before the Synod for a vote with a show of hands but without a debate. And that will be that. The death of the Catholic and reformed Church of England we knew and loved.

Killed by secular debate in Synod and in Parliament by MPs who worry about the West Lothian question while happily nodding through without demure an issue which affects the faith of their constituents whether they have any themselves or understanding of the religious issues involved. Going back to that sermon I began with, yes, I hear you Father!

PART II

In The Oxford Student (here) the campaign to make the Bishopric of Oxford the first in the Church of England to be filled by a woman is hotting up.

"The women?S rep for Pembroke College, Anna Simpson, commented: 'It is fantastic to see this possible change tying in with wider movements in Oxford for gender equality and more generally that institutions are moving forward with the times' ".

There will be a Public Meeting on the 11th November at Christ Church Cathedral at 7:15pm to discuss  the appointment.

Other items offered byThe Oxford Studentfor thought to be interest to readers are :

THIS HOUSE BELIEVES THAT WE ARE ALL FEMINISTS NOW

OUT IN THE COLD: UNION?S ?DEEPLY CONCERNING? GENDER IMBALANCE

“APPALLING” GENDER SPLIT IN POLITICAL SPEAKERS and

THE OXFORD UNION MUST REFLECT AN EQUAL SOCIETY

This should please my sternest critic who wrote earlier: "All male lead instutions (sic) have moved on from this decades ago (police, law, medicine) and now it's time for us to do the same.

Will these people never learn that faith is not about secular institutions and gender politics!