Women May Be Priests, Church of England Says : Religion: The decision on divisive issue after 17 years of debate could mean ordination of first female by 1994.

LONDON — The Church of England decided by a two-vote margin Wednesday that women may be ordained as priests.

The General Synod ruling--a decision that some experts termed the most divisive for the church since the Reformation--came after 17 years of debate. Pending the anticipated approval of Parliament and Queen Elizabeth II, it could lead to the church’s ordination of the first female priest by 1994.

The decision brought cheers of jubilation from some Anglicans and glum expressions from others who gathered outside Church House in central London where the vote was taken.

“This is tremendous--now the church can go forward,” said Deacon Christina Rees, who led a group supporting the ordination of women. Deacon Anabel Shilson-Thomas, whose husband, Hugh, is a priest, said she was “exceptionally pleased.” Her spouse said he was “thrilled and relieved.”

But the Rev. Peter Geldard, who opposes having women serve as priests, warned that Wednesday’s decision “will pit diocese against diocese, parish against parish, parishioner against parishioner.”

The Church of England is the mother institution of the Anglican Communion, which includes the American Episcopal Church; 11 of 29 worldwide Anglican churches abroad now ordain women as priests, including the American branch.

The Episcopal Church in America approved the ordination of women in 1976. The first such authorized ordinations took place in 1977, although there were some “irregular” ordinations a year earlier. There are 54 women priests in the Los Angeles Diocese, officials said.

In Britain, George Carey--who as the Archbishop of Canterbury is the spiritual leader of the 70-million-member worldwide Anglican Communion--was expected to take a neutral position in the daylong debate before the 553 voting members of the General Synod, the church’s ruling body.

But the archbishop, who also chairs the synod, supported ordaining women, declaring: “God calls us to take the risk of faith. I believe God is also calling his church to ordain women to the priesthood.”

The Rev. Edmond L. Browning, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, said he was “thrilled almost beyond words” at the vote in Britain.

“The vote affirms the positive experience of our church over the last years as we have gratefully received the gifts of women in . . . ordained ministry,” he said. “Our women priests and bishop have brought a wholeness and enrichment to our common life that I hope and pray has been a model for others in our communion.”

But, he acknowledged, the vote could cause controversy. “I know this will not be welcome news for all in our household of faith,” Browning said. “They need to be held in our prayers as well.”

The Rt. Rev. Frederick H. Borsch, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and a backer of women’s ordination, called the Church of England decision “a great blessing. . . . It is a time to recommit ourselves to see that these ministries and the future ministries of women are given the full support of the church and to establish equality in every area of ministry and practice.”

After announcing Wednesday’s vote, Carey pleaded for reconciliation by all parties in the ordination debate as he faced the task of holding the church together during an expected crisis over the issue.

In Vatican City, the Roman Catholic Church issued a statement declaring that Wednesday’s decision represents “new and grave obstacles” to its reconciliation with the Anglican churches. The Church of England broke with Rome in the 16th Century over papal refusal to grant Henry VIII an annulment.

In London, Cardinal Basil Hume, head of the English Roman Catholic Church, said the prospect of female priests could interrupt the ecumenical process and “postpone it for quite a long time.” Hume said he fears that the synod’s decision could create a schism within the Church of England and could distance it from the Roman Catholic, Eastern Rites and Orthodox churches--all of which prohibit women priests.

John Gummer, the British agriculture secretary and a leading layman who opposes women as priests, declared that the future of the church will be “very difficult.”

In 1975, the General Synod agreed that there was no scriptural reason why women should not be made priests. That decision, however, launched a bitter theological debate that continued Wednesday as the two sides outlined their deep divisions.

Besides objections from the church’s Anglo-Catholic wing, which argued that the ordination of women would bar closer relations with Rome and would be a denial of the universal church, evangelicals protested that Christ was male and chose male disciples. They contended that their Bible does not sanction women priests.

“The maleness of Christian ministerial priesthood may be an obstacle to some, madness to others, but I have yet to be convinced that it’s not part of God’s revelation for the salvation of us all,” said Canon Christopher Colvern of London.

But, countered the Rev. June Osborne, deacon of Bow in east London, “Where lies the relevance of my gender when I exercise judgment, teaching, discipline, order and spiritual endeavor?”

As an indication of the acrimony created by Wednesday’s vote, the Rt. Rev. David Lunn, the bishop of Sheffield, warned that he might be forced to resign from the church because he feels so strongly that it erred in breaking with tradition and allowing women priests.

But Carey argued that in Christian churches abroad, women have made an increasingly important contribution. He also said that voting at local levels has showed that most church members favor allowing women to be priests.

The proposal to allow female priests needed a two-thirds majority of each of the three houses of the synod. The House of Bishops approved it 39-13, the House of Clergy 176-74; and the House of Laity 169-82.

There are an estimated 1,300 women in the Church of England who might serve as priests. The highest post the church now permits women to hold is deacon. Women in such a role carry the title of “reverend” and may baptize, marry and bury parishioners. But deacons may not give Communion, absolve an individual from sins or give a general blessing in the name of God.

The Church of England, like other denominations, has a shortage of priests, and many of its women deacons already perform most of the priestly duties in parishes around the nation. The latest available statistics indicate that the total of practicing, churchgoing Roman Catholics now outnumbers Anglicans in England, 1.95 million to 1.84 million.

Times religion writer Larry Stammer in Los Angeles contributed to this story.

The U.S. Connection

The Episcopal Church, the American branch of Anglicanism, broke from the Church of England during the American Revolution. The 2.5-million member U.S. church voted in 1976 to ordain women priests and bishops. The vote in Britain on Wednesday would allow the Church of England to join 12 of the 28 self-governing provinces in the Anglican Communion that already ordain women priests. Here is where the Anglicans rank among other religious groups: World’s major religious adherents

Members % of all religions All Christians 1,800 million 33.3 Roman Catholics 995 million 18.8 Protestants 363 million 6.9 Orthodox 167 million 3.2 Anglicans 73 million 1.4 Other Christians 160 million 3.0 Muslims 900 million 17.7 Hindus 705 million 13.3 Buddhists 303 million 5.7

Numbers do not add up to 100% because all religions are not listed

Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica Book of the Year, 1991 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches