London - It was the day a mother of two entered the history books by becoming the Church of England’s first female bishop.
But it was also the chance for one of the dwindling band opposed to the ordination of women to voice his protest.
As the Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu asked the congregation at York Minster if it was their will to ordain the Reverend Libby Lane as Bishop of Stockport, a male priest stepped forward. The Reverend Paul Williamson declared: “No. Not in the Bible. With respect, Your Grace, I ask to speak on this absolute impediment, please.”
Williamson is known for his outspoken opposition to women priests and also tried to object to Prince Charles’s marriage to Camilla. His protest on Monday – polite and brief – had clearly been expected and Dr Sentamu merely continued by reading a prepared statement that the consecration of a woman as bishop was “now lawful” under the “law of the land”.
The ceremony then proceeded without interruption and, 21 years after its first female priests were ordained, the Church had its first woman bishop.
The issue of the ordination of women has divided the Church for nearly a century but it was only in the 1970s that the first serious attempts to allow female priests began to gather momentum.
In 1992 the General Synod agreed to allow women priests but it took until last July for a vote in favour of female bishops – a change described by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby as a “completely new phase of our existence”.
Lane, 48, who was a vicar in Manchester, plays the saxophone, is said to support Manchester United and met her husband George, who is also an Anglican vicar, while studying theology at Oxford University.
She said: “it is a remarkable thing that this happens to me... but actually this is about a moment in the Church’s history.”
Her consecration was watched by a congregation of 2 000, including several foreign women Anglican bishops. The most symbolic moment came when dozens of bishops from around the world “laid hands” on Lane as she knelt before them. Her husband smiled as he watched from the front row.
Many traditionalists remain firmly opposed to the ordination of women, including Williamson, priest in charge at St George’s Church, Hanwell, West London. In the 1990s he launched numerous law suits against the Church in a bid to stop women becoming priests, to the extent that a High Court judge declared him a “vexatious litigant”, preventing him from taking further legal action without permission. In 2005 he tried to prove that it would be illegal for Charles, as a royal, to marry Camilla in a civil ceremony.
A Church of England spokesman played down Monday’s protest, saying Williamson was a “lone voice” amid a sea of voices affirming the ordination of Lane.
Daily Mail