A Way Forward for the Church?

Beginning of article

THE Church of England has long been considered a comfortable billet, especially for its clergy. Once ordained, a priest is guaranteed a job for life, if he behaves himself. The pay may not be good but there are fringe benefits and in recent years a good pension has awaited the elderly. The parson's freehold has protected even the most incompetent. Now, suddenly, the words 'unemployment' and 'redundancy' are appearing and many priests find themselves the victims not of a recession but of their own consciences. The ordination of women has brought to a head a conflict between church parties which has been simmering for generations. At present the situation is too confused to make a prediction about the future of the established Church. However, it is possible to cross the Atlantic and see what has happened to the Anglican Church in both Canada and the United States, where women were ordained eighteen years ago and a number of clergy and laity found themselves unchurched.

I have recently returned from several weeks in Canada, working with the traditional Anglican Catholic Church of Canada (ACCC). I was well tutored in what was happening in both Anglican and Roman Catholic circles. Whereas in England the Roman option has been attractive to some who could not accept the General Synod's decision to ordain women, this has not been so in Canada and the States, chiefly because the Roman Catholic Church is becoming more liberal than the Anglican Church of Canada and is fostering a feminist theology which is infiltrating other Christian bodies. Why become a Roman Catholic and face the same problems was a question I heard among the traditionalists? It soon became apparent that more was involved than the making of women priests.

Since the full story began to unfold during my stay, I need to say more about my visit. I arrived in …