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Women bishops back on Synod agenda

The Church of England's equivalent of Parliament is meeting for the next five days - the first time since the rejection of the draft legislation on Women Bishops last November.

Females now make up about a third of the Church's priests and in the past Synod had voted to allow women to take the senior positions, but hasn't come up with a way forward to satisfy the needs of those who oppose. A large period of time on Saturday will be dedicated to Synod members to enable them to privately meet and discuss the thorny issue.

In 24 groups of 20 with a trained facilitator they will be able to raise concerns before the debate on Monday morning. A working group set up last year has put forward four potential proposals to pave the way for women to be ordained as bishops.

Synod member Revd Canon Jonathan Ford favours 'option 1' which he said will mean that all bishops will have to ordain women to the priesthood and episcopate but that each diocese will have to come up with a scheme for caring for those who dissent. There will also be a process by which people can appeal if they feel they are being treated unfairly.

Revd Ford believes this is the most inclusive system for the entire Church, but traditionalists say new proposals offer fewer concessions than legislation they rejected in November.

The Bishop of Truro, the Rt Revd Tim Thornton, tells Premier a solution could be found this weekend: 

During last year's November meeting Synod members passed the draft legislation in the Houses of Bishops and Clergy, but it failed to gain the required two-thirds majority in the House of Laity.

The controversy centred on the provisions for parishes opposed to women bishops to request supervision by a stand-in male bishop. Lay members of the Synod narrowly blocked the vote because they were dissatisfied with the exemptions offered to the traditionalists. The new scheme, backed by the Church of England bishops and known as the best way forward would "rely least on law and place the greatest emphasis on trust". The new proposals before Synod would require only a simple majority for the measure to be adopted as draft legislation. Final approval could be given to the new legislation by either July or November 2015, with the first female bishop appointed possibly by 2016. This Synod will also see the new Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby give his address and outline what he thinks are the main challenges facing the Church of England.

The meeting at the University of York will also include debates on Safeguarding and also back an apology to victims of abuse by priests in the Chichester Diocese that spanned three decades.

Synod members will be asked to endorse an apology by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and agree plans to take further legislative and non-legislative steps to improve policies and practices on safeguarding children. Also at Synod a national 'Poverty Pilgrimage, to highlight the plight of those living in poverty, will be launched. The Archbishop of York will send out pilgrims from York to visit 14 major communities before ending with a welcome by MPs at the House of Commons in London on July, 12th. Those taking part will travel to London by foot, public transport and lifts from friends with just £53 mirroring the amount many people have to budget on each week.

Revd Canon Jonathan Ford tells Premier why the event is so important:

Synod is also likely to criticise government welfare plans. Members will discuss how the Church is and should be responding and what is the impact on their parishioners on low income.

There will also be a vote on whether three Yorkshire dioceses will merge. This will bring together the existing Dioceses of Bradford, Ripon and Leeds and Wakefield to create a new Diocese of Leeds.

The Archbishop of York gave the go-ahead for it to be discussed even though the Diocese of Wakefield has not given its consent to the scheme.

Synod will also for the first time vote on a motion suggesting the Church should ditch its shares in fossil fuels companies. The Diocese of Southwark has passed a resolution in favour of such a move but it is likely to be some months before the Synod debates the proposal. The General Synod meets in York from today until Tuesday.

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