Word: synods
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...Church of England, which has yet to approve women priests, took a major step in that direction last week. But in a contorted plan to appease conservatives, the church synod voted to give dioceses and parishes the right to reject any ministry by women, and even granted $50,000 as compensation for lost pay to any priest who might feel unable to remain in a church with women clergy...
...incendiary essay. Suspicions quickly narrowed to a handful of clerics with the requisite conservative opinions and insider's knowledge. Bennett fit perfectly. He was an ally of London's Bishop Graham Leonard, a champion of the Anglo-Catholics, and served on two powerful panels that set the General Synod agenda and nominated bishops. Bennett, who was known for his probity, vociferously denied he was the writer. But after his death the two lay officials who assigned the author admitted that they had selected Bennett...
During the first days in the Vatican's modern, tiered synod hall, the status of women emerged as a pressing topic. It was addressed in speeches by no fewer than 32 participants, much to the delight of the U.S. delegation, which had made the issue a priority. Not everyone was so pleased. When Ireland's Tomas Cardinal O Fiaich stated that the women's issue is "no longer an American aberration," another bishop was heard to grumble, "Yeah, it's now a worldwide aberration...
Such traditionalists went to work after the synod broke into small discussion groups. Caution was urged by Third World bishops as well as by lay advisers, whose selection had been screened by the Vatican. A first draft of the propositions for the Pope stated that women should be admitted to all nonordained ministries. That would include authorizing altar girls (common at Masses in the U.S., despite Vatican disapproval). The draft also urged a study of allowing women to become deacons. After some behind-the-scenes lobbying, the final version mentioned none of those points. Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee...
...rush to vagueness characterized the treatment of other issues: ways to incorporate the laity more fully into church life; whether Catholic politicians are bound to apply church teaching to society; and the role of lay activist movements, conservative and liberal. Some observers believe synod discussions have become less spontaneous, partly because of John Paul's concern that the bishops maintain a united front with him on doctrine and discipline, and partly because he sits in on most sessions. On the other hand, it may simply be that the diversity of national interests and viewpoints among the prelates makes strong policy...