Church of England REJECTS new law to allow women bishops

Women will be blocked from becoming bishops after the General Synod of the Church of England tonight rejected new legislation by just six votes.
The historic vote plunged the church into turmoil and represented a major blow to the incoming Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who had campaigned for a 'yes' vote.
The draft measure was carried in the houses of bishops and clergy of the General Synod but failed to gain the necessary two thirds majority among lay members


Hopes dashed: Dr Rowan Williams, the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury, comforts a colleague after the Church voted against women bishops. He had also campaigned for legislation approving women bishops


The House of Bishops voted 44 in favour, with three against and two recorded abstentions. In the House of Clergy, 148 voted in favour, 45 against and there were no abstentions.

Sorrow: Dr Canon Paula Gooder reacts to the decision alongside Dr Rowan Williams
But in the House of Laity, 74 voted against, compared to 132 in favour with no abstentions. If six people had changed their vote from no to yes in the House of Laity, the legislation would have received the necessary two thirds majority.
A spokesman for the Church of England said there would be an emergency meeting of the House of Bishops at 8.30am tomorrow in the light of the result.
Dr Williams said the vote isn't 'the end of the story' and the Church must now 'find a way forward'.
He added: 'I think one of the things that is most sobering, most saddening about today is that it does commit us to a long process of focusing on this question when so many people would like to be talking about something else and doing something else.'
He also urged women who were thinking of leaving the ministry following the vote not to give up.
'I would say first of all that I can well understand that feeling of rejection and unhappiness and deep perhaps disillusion with the institutional Church that many women may be feeling,' he said.
'I would also say it is still your Church and your voice matters and always will be heard and it is important therefore not to give up.
'It is easy for me to say that, I don't have to carry it in the same deeply personal way that these women particularly will but I still want to say it is your Church, not mine and not Synod's.'
The Rev Rachel Weir, of the campaign group Women and the Church, said: 'We're absolutely devastated.
'Not just devastated on behalf of clergy women - obviously this will be an enormous blow to clergy women, it's awful for their morale - but it's a disaster for the Church of England.
'We've spent 10 years working for this legislation.There's something badly wrong with the system.
'In the General Synod we have a grossly over-representational number of extremely conservative wings of the Church.
'They're not representational views from the pews, the majority of people would love to have women bishops.
'It's really tragic for us, clearly we're need to have women bishops in the Church of England.'
Asked what happens next, Ms Weir, from the Oxford Diocese, said: 'We'll move heaven and earth to get this back on track as soon as possible.'

Faith: A general view of the Assembly Hall of Church House, during a meeting of the General Synod of the Church of England

Disappointment: Rt Rev Justin Welby (centre), at the meeting of the General Synod earlier today. He had campaigned for a 'yes' vote

Hope: A female member of the clergy talks on the phone outside Church House just before the vote

Technology: The voting handset used to decide the fate of women clergy in the Church of England