he Feast of St Benedict 2005, like the Feast of St Martin 1992, has entered Church History. As on 11 November 1992, when the Church of England agreed to admit women to the ministerial priestood, on 11 July 2005 the Church of England agreed to prepare legislation to admit women to the episcopate. The first was a vote which required and gained a two thirds majority whereas the second required only a simple majority but gained a two thirds majority in all three houses and, in two of the houses, the House of Bishops and the House of Clergy, a majority in excess of three to one.

There has been another significant date too - the Chair of St Peter the Apostle 1994 - when the a canon was promulged, permitting women to be ordained priest, and, at some time in the future - and who knows which profoundly and inherently unsuitable feast will be chosen for that disintegrative event! - a canon will be promulged, permitting women to be ordained and consecrated bishop.

We have to accept, first, that the Church of England, however misguided, is proceeding conscientiously and devoutly. To suggest anything else is to fan the flames of anger and invite others to misrepresent us and our own Catholic beliefs. There have been churches before which have attempted to alter the scriptural canon or credal formulations, have reinvented sacramental theology or redesigned ministerial order. The changes have almost always been made from the best of motives and have usually led, hundreds of years later, to a rediscovery of the Faith once delivered to the Saints.

We also have to accept, second, that, to borrow a phrase, the future is a foreign country. There is an adventure ahead for all of us - such is the nature of pilgrimage and such is our hope in God's final purposes - and preparations need to be made. By God's good grace, the human disaster - as it seemed to us - of a dozen or so years ago brought about a rebirth of Catholic Faith and Life in our midst. Never have we been so clearly a community of shared beliefs, hopes and practice. We must continue to wait upon God to declare his sovereign purposes for us now. Humanly speaking, we are at the negotiating table, a blueprint for a new province in our hands. Divinely speaking, we are - I hope - gathered in prayer in the Upper Room, waiting for a New Pentecost. It is for this reason that, at this very time of uncertainty, I have commended to all the parishes in my care pursuit of the Alpha Course. Brothers and sisters, let us evangelize, catechize, solemnise and celebrate in those distinctive ways in which, by which and through which we still have so much to contribute to the Body of Christ.

+ Andrew Ebbsfleet
July 14th AD2005

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The Bishop of Ebbsfleet
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