There, All Better Now

Last year the General Synod met and threw out the draft legislation about consecrating women as bishops, throwing the entire Church of England into a convulsive fit of soul-searching and introspection, and the media into a rare degree of interest in the Church and its doings. The story was everywhere. A couple of days ago this November's Synod voted through a new draft provision with remarkably little dissent, and unless something unexpected happens it will proceed to be passed in July. The antis, by and large, professed themselves satisfied with the new regulations to order their relationship with putative future women bishops. Gosh. Naturally the media barely noticed, even though 'Church of England decides something sensible' is actually quite big news.

When I've met with my clerical colleagues lately I've noticed a curious and I think new commitment to the idea of the breadth of the Church of England as something good and God-given in its own right, something that contributes creatively to the life of the Church as a whole, way beyond the confines of Anglicanism. I am not quite sure how this has happened, although as it's just what I was arguing for last year I am very pleased indeed. I wonder whether it's anything to do with the example of Papa Francis in Rome, and a strange sense of openness and optimism flowing around as a result.