Prospect of Anglican women bishops causes problems, says cardinal

Published: 2006-02-08

LONDON (CNS) -- The prospect of ordaining women as bishops in the Church of England means that the quest for unity is at a plateau, said a British cardinal. There is "no doubt that recent developments in the Anglican Communion with regard to the ordination of women as priests and now as bishops -- even more profoundly because a bishop is in a particular way a figure of unity -- as well as other developments in the ethical sphere have meant that ecumenism is at a plateau," said Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster, England. The cardinal spoke at a London press conference Feb. 6, the same day as the first session of the Church of England's general synod, at which Anglican leaders were scheduled to debate the ordination of women as bishops, a move church officials have said will present a new obstacle to Anglican-Catholic unity. "It's probably inevitable that in due course there will be the ordination of women as bishops," said Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor. "If you have women as priests, it's an inevitable conclusion."

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