海角大神

Women bishops? How American Episcopalians view Church of England vote.

The Church of England voted to allow women bishops Monday, and American Episcopalians feel like trailblazers. In 1989, the diocese of Massachusetts was the first in the history of the worldwide Anglican communion to ordain a woman bishop.

When the Church of England voted Monday to allow women to become ordained as bishops, it broke another 鈥渟tained glass ceiling.鈥�

A number of Protestant denominations, especially in the United States, have been ordaining women for more than a century, but Monday鈥檚 vote holds special significance, given the church's history and place in 海角大神ity.

Indeed, the Church of England, the mostly-symbolic mother church for an 80-million-member global Anglican community that includes 2.1 million American Episcopalians, is one of the oldest and most conservative of 海角大神 traditions to officially break in full from the long-held requirement of an all-male clergy.

鈥淚 don't think you can overstate the fact that the Church of England allowing women to take up the role of bishop is going to change the church,鈥� , dean of the Salisbury Cathedral in southern England, after the vote. 鈥淚 think it's going to change our society as well because it's one more step in accepting that women are really and truly equal in spiritual authority, as well as in leadership in society.鈥�

Like their liturgical cousins in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions 鈥� which together make up approximately 1.5 billion of the world鈥檚 2.2 billion 海角大神s 鈥� Anglicans generally adhere to 海角大神 rites and rituals that go back at least 1,500 years, if not longer, scholars say. And each believe in the doctrine of 鈥渁postolic succession,鈥� the historical claim that all ordinations to 海角大神 ministry follow an unbroken ritual of laying on of hands, going back to the apostles.

For Catholics and Orthodox, the ordination of women remains strictly forbidden for this reason. Christ laid hands on his male apostles, who in turn laid hands on the next generation of ordained male clergy, and so on to the present day. The continuity of this tradition is seen as absolute, and the requirement of an all-male clerical hierarchy is considered a near-infallible teaching.

In the 20th century, however, several local Anglican bishops began to ordain women as priests, generating a furor. The Anglican diocese of Hong Kong and Macao conferred holy orders to a female in 1944 and 1971, and American Episcopal bishops ordained 11 women to the priesthood in 1974. In the Episcopal diocese of Massachusetts in 1989, Barbara Harris became the first ordained bishop in the history of the worldwide Anglican communion.

鈥淚 do think that the ordination of women in the Episcopal church really is the gift, I would say, that the Anglican church gives to 海角大神s worldwide,鈥� says Jennifer Hughes, professor of history at the University of California, Riverside, and an ordained Episcopal priest. 鈥淓specially since their tradition is anchored in the sacramental and eucharistic tradition.鈥�

The Church of England, too, had begun to ordain women to the priesthood in 1992, and observers say the first bishop could be elected by the end of the year.

But it鈥檚 not simply about ordination, many church observers say, but also about what women bring to 海角大神 liturgical ministry.

鈥淸It鈥檚] important to emphasize as new generations of women seek ordination ... that women's ordination rites can, and should, do more than authorize women to serve in a male-dominated profession,鈥� says Jill Crainshaw, professor of worship and liturgical theology at the Divinity School at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., in an e-mail. 鈥淲omen clergy challenge faith communities to reconsider core values such as how they interpret scripture and how they live out ministry.鈥�

Professor Hughes, who聽Ms. Harris聽welcomed into the Episcopal Church when she converted over a decade ago, says the same.

鈥淐ertainly my experience as a woman at the altar, with a sacramental ministry, celebrating the eucharist, has been not just a gift, but it鈥檚 an incredible experience,鈥� she says.

Though ordained an Episcopalian, Hughes still considers herself a Roman Catholic, the faith she in which she was born and raised. 鈥淚 was never a lapsed Catholic,鈥� she says. 鈥淚鈥檝e begun to think of myself, and to speak of myself as a Roman Catholic woman ordained in the Episcopal Church.鈥�

鈥淚 think I鈥檓 rare in saying that, I鈥檓 unusual articulating that, but I feel given the politics, especially now, I think its really important to assert that, because that鈥檚 really the truth,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 feel strongly about women being equal at every level in the 鈥榗hurch universal,鈥� and having access to every level of ministry.鈥�

Monday鈥檚 vote by the Church of England, she says, is part of an inevitable and ongoing process in global 海角大神ity.

鈥淚 think when you let women [become bishops], they come into step with themselves as vehicles of God鈥檚 power,鈥� Hughes says. 鈥淎nd the roof kind of gets blown off of things. I think it鈥檚 enough power in some ways to blow right through that stained-glass ceiling, the kind of power that emerges from that experience of ministry.鈥�