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 Is the advent of Australia’s first woman bishop a sign of gay priests to come? The omens are mixed, reports Iain Clacher.
When Kay Goldworthy became the first woman to be ordained as an Anglican bishop in Perth last Thursday, the rumblings of dissent were amplified to a roar.
That morning, the West Australian newspaper shouted ominous warnings that gay priests would follow Goldworthy’s appointment as certain “as night follows day”.
“If [the appointment of gay priests] happens, when it happens, there is no doubt the
division that is now under the surface will erupt,” said Bishop Harry Entwistle, who heads the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), a conservative, some say “misogynist”, splinter group.
Entwistle claimed Goldsworthy’s appointment would add weight to calls from liberal Anglicans to accept openly-gay clergy and bishops.
 Historically, the conservatives’ fears were fuelled by the controversial consecration of the openly-gay and non-celibate Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.
In part, Robinson’s consecration was made possible by the support of a woman bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, who has since risen to lead the Episcopalian (Anglican) Church in the US.
Jefferts Schori also generated controversy when she allowed the blessing of same-sex unions in her diocese of Nevada.
Though the Anglican Churches of Canada and New Zealand also consecrate women bishops, neither has as yet followed the US in ordaining openly-non-celibate gays.
Despite this, and despite the fact that TAC can claim only 400,000 members worldwide, the Australian media quickly took up Entwistle’s claims.
Among the very first questions asked of Australia’s first female bishop was whether women and gays shared the same experiences in the battle for recognition, and whether gays should be consecrated too.
Goldsworthy answered diplomatically, saying that the church was “engaged in a long process of listening carefully and attentively to the experience of homosexual Christian people”.
“We’re searching for the heart of God and the mind of Christ.’’
Anglican primate, the liberal Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, said the issues would “need to be dealt with in the same kind of way” as the ordination of women.
“It requires long-term deep study of the scriptures, international theological reflection and a lot of prayer and talking with each other.”
Bronislava Lee, who serves as vice-president of the Movement for the Ordination of Women in Australia (MOWatch), said women in the church had diverse opinions on gay clergy.
“Because we’ve had women clergy for some time outside Sydney, there are women who have not had to fight to be a priest,” Lee told SX.
“However, people who have been a part of that struggle are aware of the kinds of issues that both women and gays have faced in order to be included in the church,” she said.
Nonetheless, long-time religion commentator for the Courier-Mail newspaper, Alison Cotes, told SX she did not believe there was “any connection whatsoever” between women priests and gay priests.
“One thing does not lead to the other,” she said.
“This issue is all about old-fashioned stick-in-the-muds who see their power-bases eroding, and that’s all it is.”
Whatever the ultimate future holds, women and gays are certain to remain soldiers in the battle for the soul of the Anglican Church for some time to come.
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