To ask the right hon. Member for Banbury, representing the Church Commissioners, what discussions the Commissioners have had with Church of England bishops on the laying on of hands during the consecration of (a) female and (b) male bishops; and if he will make a statement.
Answered on
2 February 2015
The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York have always had the power to delegate to another bishop their role as chief consecrator. The five guiding principles of the House of Bishops’ declaration which underpinned General Synod’s agreement to women bishops clearly provided a framework to make it possible for arrangements to develop for the Church of England to maintain the highest possible degree of communion and contribute to mutual flourishing across all the diverse traditions that exist. Paragraph 30 of the House of Bishops’ declaration gave a very clear commitment to continuing the supply of traditionalist Catholic Bishops and Headship Evangelical Bishops.