FROM THE ARCHIVES:Church of Ireland members suspected the slow progress towards women's ordination was not entirely a matter of procedures at its synod 30 years ago. – JOE JOYCE
There were angry interruptions at the General Synod of the Church of Ireland in Dublin yesterday before a bill to enable women to become deacons was withdrawn. Another bill will be considered in two or three years.
The disappointment and impatience shown by synod members was understandable. It is six years since it was decided to approve the ordination of women in principle. In 1979, the question was considered by the synods of each diocese. Two years ago a motion to grant leave for the introduction of a bill in 1981 for the ordination of women to the priesthood did not receive the necessary two-thirds majority of clergy and, last year, permission was given to bring in a bill to admit them to the diaconate.
The Rev John Neill, St Bartholomew’s Ballsbridge, Dublin, questioned the legality of the bill while Mr William Sheldon, legal assessor to the Archbishop of Armagh and president of the synod, Dr Armstrong, thought that it was not in order.
The House of Bishops held a special meeting during the lunchtime adjournment. When the General Synod resumed, the Bishop of Down and Dromore, Dr [Robin] Eames, said that they had decided to advise that if the bill was withdrawn the bishops would liaise with the Committee on the Admission of Women to the Diaconate and the Liturgical Advisory Council and would take account of the suggested permanent diaconate mentioned in a report on ministry, presented to synod members last year.
“This liaison would be developed in such a way that the mind of the General Synod on all these separate, but inter-related items, would be made clear and free from all legal dilemmas in the course of the next two to three years,” he said.
Dr Armstrong said that in deference to the House of Bishops, the Synod should accept their suggestion.
Mr David Bleakley, general secretary of the Irish Council of Churches, thought that this should not be taken as another constitutional difficulty. On the surface it was a constitutional difficulty, but there was “something else rippling deeper down.” There were angry shouts of “No. No.” Mr Bleakley said that the public could read a lot into what was happening. They knew that there was argument about the role of women in the Church. The proposal from the bishops that they should wait two or three years was risky, particularly since in the Church of Ireland there was a majority for the ordination of women, though technically there was not a majority. “Let us grasp this nettle and let us grasp it today,” he added.
The Rev John Neill said that he felt that there was an important difference between ordination of women to the diaconate and ordination to the priesthood.
Mrs Catherine McGuinness, a former senator, said that law could be used to protect people, but it could also be used to delay.
Women could only say “How long, O Lord? How Long?”