WATCH

  
Readers of this blog, and of comments I have made on various other blogs, will know that I have taken exception to the fraudulent claims of Women and the Church (WATCH) in their campaign for the ordination of women and their refusal to honour the promise of a place in the Anglican church for those who do not accept the legality of their claims. Their campaign is documented here. 

Much of what is written is self-congratulatory and simply records the progress of their campaign but one document stands out above the others because illustrates what they are about. Extracts are copied below together with the source for anyone who wants to read the whole document. Unsurprisingly, faith and tradition are not regarded as important as Feminism which appears in Canon Lucy Winkett's first sentence:

"Never mind Gordon Ramsay, we have in modern society a

new F-word: Feminism.

At current rates of change, it would take 40

years to achieve equality in the judiciary, 60 years to

achieve equality in business and a staggering 200 years

to achieve equal representation of women and men in

parliament. Until women are consecrated bishop, there is

no representation in the leadership of the established

church. Apart from all the theological arguments, this

absence damages our mission and our communication

with the society in which we are embedded.

And in the 21st century, in the West, women have more

freedom and choice than at any time in our history. There

are very few areas of public life that are technically closed

to women; we are airline pilots, politicians, astronauts,

lawyers, mechanics, builders, football club owners. The

only areas of public life still closed to women are those

protected by organised religion.

But the fact is that it is part of the mission of the

church to read the signs of the times, to practise discernment,

to cultivate wisdom. Christian women and Christian

women leaders have something to contribute, not just to

the church’s internal debates on what women are allowed

to do – but to the wider debate in the society we serve.

Women clergy have found a place in British society and

we are learning to be priests in our own way. We are only

just beginning to see the difference we are making and

the possibilities that a whole priesthood offers to the

people of God. In a million pastoral encounters it will

have mattered to someone that the priest they sought

out was female. The receptiveness of women combined

with our authority as priests has made a compelling combination

in parishes throughout the country.

"... so we are transformed...

into people of compassion, people who see

what others overlook, people who can begin to trace the

vague outlines of the prophetic vision of the reign of God

where justice and mercy embrace and a grand table is

set." James Schmitmeyer (Liturgy and Justice ed. Anne Y.

Koestner p 73)

Women can be signs of

change – an affirmation that things do not always have to

be as they are.

I would like to suggest that the presence of women in the

decision making layers of the church could have a significant

effect on the theology and ecclesiology and therefore

the mission of the church in society.

Women who reflect on the gender critique available to

them when looking at the institution may help to move

the church from an overemphasis on Christology towards

a more Trinitarian understanding of God; and this may

help us in our communication with the rest of society.

Feminist theologian and Biblical scholar Rosemary

Radford Ruether encourages us not to indulge in

Christolatry; by that she means an over-emphasis on the

one man Jesus to the exclusion of God the Creator or the

Holy Spirit. Also we must try to avoid an over-emphasis

on the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was male. ... A greater

emphasis on the Trinity produces a differentmodel of church

because it expands as it goes up rather than contracts.

... Christianity in the West has been very effective in

confining and controlling women’s energy and sexuality.

Notable and famous exceptions stand out from the

crowd, but the fact remains that millions of voiceless

women have lived and died being taught by male

Christian leaders that they were responsible for all the sin

in the world. It’s all about Eve. She was the one who was

taken in by the serpent and she tempted her man away

from his higher calling.

The need for our half-changed world to change further is

urgent. Christian women can play our part in imagining

what this changed world might be like. We can tell our

daughters and our sons that things do not have to be as

they are.

For almost all of Christian history, from the suppression of

the gospel of Mary Magdalene, to the 2nd century martyrdom

of Perpetua and her companions – from the

medieval denouncement of mystics as heretics to the

witch hunts of the Middle Ages, from the first women

preachers in the radical sects of the 17th century to the

campaigners for social justice of the 19th, women have

been speaking and praying from a situation of marginalisation

as far as church authority is concerned. This is a

vital concept for us to grasp.

Now women are on the inside, are exercising authority in

state and church, although the power is not yet equally

shared and the pay is certainly not equal. We are in a

new situation; I am not here to make a case for women

to be bishops – that case is obvious...

From the historical perspective of exclusion, women are

able to speak with authority from long centuries of marginalisation,

to bring these perspectives into the decision

making structures of society and church.

In the West, we live in a half changed world. There are

now very few areas of public life not open to women –

except those protected by organised religion."

Extracted from WATCH keynote address here.

Where is the historic faith in their New Anglicanism?