As General Synod approaches, Sydney's Standing Committee has made clear its "disappointment" with the majority opinion of the Appellate Tribunal on women bishops.
The "disappointment" concerns the Tribunal's September 28 decision that there is nothing in the wording of the current Constitution which would prevent women becoming bishops.
This was a legal interpretation of a 1995 amendment to the definition of "canonical fitness' originally given in the 1961 Constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia.
The original wording held that "maleness' was a prerequisite for bishops in the Australian Anglican Church.
The 1995 amendment had been passed with Sydney's consent, on the grounds that the new wording " which defined "canonical fitness' as being a person who is at least 30 years of age, baptised and in priest's orders " made no change to the meaning of the definition it replaced.
"At the time, everyone was assured that this was a tidying up of the definition " the Canon Law Commission advised that the change didn't make any difference to the existing law," says Anglican Church League Chairman, Robert Tong.
The "rethink' was prompted by a question put to the Tribunal in 2005, asking if the amended wording of the Constitution prevented a woman being ordained as a bishop.
This ruling now allows a diocese which has adopted the Law of the Church of England Clarification Canon 1992, and whose constitution and law allows it, to consecrate a woman as a bishop.
However the old wording still applies for assistant bishops, which means assistant bishops must be male.
Bishop Robert Forsyth says the decision has resulted in a difficult realisation for Sydney.
“There is another set of issues raised by the way the decision has been taken,” he says.
“It wasn’t by people changing their mind in General Synod, but the discovery that we had all - including us in the Diocese of Sydney - voted for this change in the early ‘90s, without knowing we were doing it.”
A matter of trust
This ruling has led Sydney's Standing Committee to express its lack of trust in the Appellate Tribunal as a consequence of this decision.
"Although the Standing Committee has provided the Tribunal with material, often prepared with the assistance of senior counsel, mostly that material has been ignored by the Tribunal," a motion passed by Standing Committee states.
Standing Committee has advised Diocesan Secretary, Robert Wicks to inform the Primate, the General Secretary of the General Synod and each of the members of the Appellate Tribunal that the Standing Committee is unlikely to consider presenting the Tribunal with questions regarding the operation of the Constitution in future.
"What the Tribunal has said, is that we don't need to go to General Synod " it takes it out of General Synod's decision-making power, which is hopeless," explains Mr Tong.
"Because the conservative dioceses will feel as though they've been let down, this won't be owned across Australia," he adds.
"It's sure to be raised at General Synod and there's sure to be some more friction."
What this means for Sydney
This decision will not affect the internal function of the Sydney Diocese, as Sydney's Synod would have to approve the practice of appointing women as bishops before it could go ahead, according to Mr Tong.
"I can't see that happening," he says.
"Synod would have to vote by houses " the clergy wouldn't vote it in, and I'm not sure even if laypeople would allow it.
"The effect of this is nil really " it's not going to affect us internally at all, but it may impact visitors."
Bishop Robert Forsyth says the decision will affect the relationship Sydney has with other dioceses around Australia, especially when consecrations occur.
"Normally, we go to other dioceses for the ordination of other bishops " when women are being ordained, we can't," he says.
"When we ordain bishops here, we normally invite others to come along, but with women bishops, we can't."
Bishop Forsyth also indicates it could also place Archbishop Peter Jensen in a difficult situation as metropolitan of NSW, which gives him the responsibility for ordaining all bishops in this State.
Bishop Forsyth adds that, further down the track, consecrations carried out by women bishops might not be recognised in Sydney, which could pose problems if clergy ordained by women wanted to serve in Sydney.
It would also add tensions to Sydney's relationships with dioceses who decide to ordain women bishops, he adds.
"We'll do our best to be as courteous as we can to each other, but because we disagree, there's going to be pain on both sides, and it's going to be more difficult to get on with each other."
