This is definitely a step toward priestesses, and anyone who denies this is lying, or stupid. First of all, this is the logical progression from suppression of the Minor Orders, with creation of lay “ministries.” From the beginning, the idea of lay ministries was resisted, with the bad compromise of only officially installing seminarians into the ministries (in most places), while allowing any lay …More
This is definitely a step toward priestesses, and anyone who denies this is lying, or stupid. First of all, this is the logical progression from suppression of the Minor Orders, with creation of lay “ministries.” From the beginning, the idea of lay ministries was resisted, with the bad compromise of only officially installing seminarians into the ministries (in most places), while allowing any lay person, male or female, to act as lectors, or extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, without any official installation. In 1994, this was extended, officially, to allowing females to serve at the altar, after being tolerated, seemingly, contra legem, for many years, by reinterpreting the law. It will be a matter of years, rather than decades, before the next logical step in this progression happens, and perhaps sooner, if the rumors about the “deaconette” commission are true. My question is, will we accept when “conservative” bishops try to convince us to be like the very few conservative Anglicans who have remained in visible unity with Canterbury? I hope there will be a few courageous ones, but, I’m not convinced there will be.