When Is a Bishop Not a Bishop?

By Richard N. Ostling

America's Episcopal Church, which ranks amity among the highest virtues, has faced considerable discord ever since its 1976 vote to allow women priests. Thousands of members fled the denomination over that decision; a larger number of traditionalists remained within the church. Seven dioceses still refuse to recognize female clergy, but most of the 2.7 million Episcopalians have accepted the on-marching women, who now constitute 10% of the church's 14,000 clergy.

Next comes the creation of women bishops. Though women nominated for the hierarchy failed to win in three U.S. dioceses this year, the election of the first woman bishop appears inevitable and could occur as early as this fall. That prospect has produced fresh mutterings of schism. Last week both the Episcopal Church and its overseas parent, the Church of England, embraced ) awkward compromises to advance the cause of women clergy while mollifying members who refuse to accept them.

The Episcopalians' peculiar scheme to head off a split squeaked through a church convention in Detroit. Under the plan, a woman bishop would maintain jurisdiction over all of her flock but would not necessarily minister to everyone. Any congregation that rejected the notion of a woman bishop could petition the diocese to come under the special care of a male "Episcopal Visitor" who would substitute for the spurned woman prelate at Communion, baptisms and confirmations. Visitors could also fill in for male bishops whose support for women bishops offends traditionalists. To make matters even more complex, the regular bishops, be they male or female, would still make the periodic pastoral visits required by church law, even to traditionalist parishes that had rejected them.

"We're very much aware there is nothing tidy about our proposal," confessed Father Jeffrey Steenson of Rosemont, Pa., a member of the committee that crafted the compromise. The bishops readily passed the bill after endorsement by Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning, who was leading his first church convention, but it was nearly killed by priests and laity in the separate House of Deputies. Nedi Moore, a woman priest from Salinas, Calif., termed the measure "insulting," and the Rev. James Fisher of Easton, Md., objected to the idea that "you can be a bishop here but not a bishop there."

The Church of England, which has yet to approve women priests, took a major step in that direction last week. But in a contorted plan to appease conservatives, the church synod voted to give dioceses and parishes the right to reject any ministry by women, and even granted $50,000 as compensation for lost pay to any priest who might feel unable to remain in a church with women clergy.

The head of the Church of England, Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie, affirmed his theological acceptance of women priests but opposed the legislation because of the lack of consensus. The bill passed by only 58%, whereas two-thirds of bishops, clergy and laity (voting separately) will be required for final approval in 1992 or 1993. The bickering over women will find an even more prominent forum next week when bishops of the Episcopal Church, the Church of England and all other branches of Anglicanism gather in England for their once-a-decade Lambeth Conference.

With reporting by Helen Gibson/London and B. Russell Leavitt/Detroit