Under the requirements of the Synod the legislation required a two-thirds majority in each of the three voting houses for final draft approval. Whilst more than two thirds voted for the legislation in both the House of Bishops (44-03) and the House of Clergy (148-45), the vote in favour of the legislation in the House of Laity was less than two-thirds (132-74). The vote in the House of Laity fell short of approval by six votes.
In
total 324 members of the General Synod voted to approve the legislation and 122
voted to reject it.
The
consequence of the "no" vote of terminating any further consideration of the
draft legislation means that it will not be possible to introduce draft
legislation in the same terms until a new General Synod comes into being in
2015, unless the 'Group of Six' (the Archbishops, the Prolocutors and the Chair
and Vice Chair of the House of Laity) give permission and report to the Synod
why they have done so.
Speaking
after the vote the Rt Revd Graham James, Bishop of Norwich, said: "A clear
majority of the General Synod today voted in favour of the legislation to
consecrate women as Bishops. But the bar of approval is set very high in this
Synod. Two-thirds of each house has to approve the legislation for it to pass.
This ensures the majority is overwhelming. The majority in the house of laity
was not quite enough. This leaves us with a problem. 42 out of 44 dioceses
approved the legislation and more than three quarters of members of diocesan
synods voted in favour. There will be many who wonder why the General Synod
expressed its mind so differently.
"The
House of Bishops recognises that the Church of England has expressed its mind
that women should be consecrated as bishops. There is now an urgent task to find
a fresh way forward to which so many of those who were opposed have pledged
themselves."
The
House of Bishops of the Church of England will meet at 8.30am on Wednesday
morning in emergency session to consider the consequences of the vote.
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