Church of England Synod Votes to Support Women Bishops

Breaking News: the three-house general synod of the Church of England meeting yesterday voted to affirm the idea of allowing women priests to advance to the role of bishops. Click here for the report posted on Episcopal Life Online. Click here for the news summary on MSNBC. Although the motion that passed allows for "special arrangements" for those who disagree, apparently many traditionalists are quite unhappy that eleven other amendments that would have given strong accommodations to traditionalists failed. Archbishop Rowan Williams is quoted as saying, "I am deeply unhappy with any scheme or any solution to this which ends up, as it were, structurally humiliating women who might be nominated." Since a "code of practice" has to be drawn up and approved before any final decision is made, it is unlikely that women bishops will appear in the Church of England before 2014.