THE House of Bishops has responded to last year’s review of the process by which the Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Revd Philip North, was appointed.
The process had been challenged by the campaign group Women and the Church (WATCH). Bishop North has previously said that he believes the ordination of women to be an area on which the Church of England should not be at variance with the wider Church, in which the ordination of women is not universally agreed.
The review, published in April last year, concluded that Bishop North was properly appointed, but made recommendations for improving processes (News, 12 April 2024). A statement from the House of Bishops, released on Thursday, says that “more work is required” on reviewing issues that are “impacting the ministry of women as priests and bishops”, and reaffirms the Bishops’ commitment to “ensuring that all traditions within the Church can continue to flourish together”.
Among the changes suggested by the reviewer, Maggie Swinson, is a bar on suffragan bishops’ chairing the vacancy-in-see committee in their diocese. A proposed change to this effect was rejected by the General Synod in February (Synod, 28 February).
The Suffragan Bishop of Lancaster in the diocese of Blackburn, Dr Jill Duff, had chaired the vacancy-in-see committee that contributed to the appointment of Bishop North. Shortly after his announcement as the next Bishop, she said that she understood the pain of those who criticised the appointment, but that Bishop North had “not caused that pain”.
Dr Duff also paid tribute to Bishop North’s support for women in the diocese, which included sponsoring them for ordination.
Bishop North has previously said that his objection to the ordination of women “does not cause me to doubt the validity of those orders that the Church of England bestows on female candidates and I hold their ministry to be transformative and grace-filled” (News, 15 September 2017).
Thursday’s statement from the House of Bishops says that “care must be taken to ensure that any further provisions for reviewing situations relating to the Declaration and supporting mutual flourishing do not unintentionally undermine the 2014 Declaration”.
Any changes to the part played by the independent reviewer would require two-thirds majorities in all three Houses of the Synod, the statement says.
The statement ends by saying that the Bishops are “committed to ensuring that all traditions within the Church can continue to flourish together”.
Last month, WATCH launched a campaign to end the provisions set out in the agreement reached in 2014.
