Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 23, 1994 TAG: 9402230035
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LONDON LENGTH: Short
The amendment to ecclesiastical law to permit the historic change was the last formality in a sometimes bitter and hard-fought debate within the state church.
"It feels like it is all over now. It is the last legal hurdle," said Jan Fortune-Wood, who will be among the first ordained March 12.
The vote by the church's governing General Synod came a day after a High Court judge dismissed a suit by a traditionalist priest, the Rev. Paul Williamson, who had sought to charge the archbishops of York and Canterbury with treason.
The Church of England is mother church of the Anglican Communion, which has 70 million members worldwide. According to the Anglican Consultative Council, there are 1,381 women priests in 12 of the 28 provinces, including the U.S. Episcopal Church, which has ordained 1,031 women.
At least 1,200 women are expected to become priests in England in the next few months.
Since the General Synod voted in November 1992 to ordain women, 35 Anglican clergymen and several hundred lay people have quit in protest, according to church spokesman Steve Jenkins.
Many have joined the Roman Catholic Church. More priests are expected to leave when they become eligible for compensation provided for those who cannot accept sharing their ministry with women. - Associated Press
by CNB