Church of Norway Welcomes Church of England Action on Women Bishops

Church of Norway Welcomes Church of England Action on Women Bishops

The Church of Norway warmly welcomes the decision by the Church of England to open its episcopal ministry to women priests.

This is a significant step in the consolidation of the Porvoo Communion of the British and Irish Anglican churches and Lutheran churches in the Nordic and Baltic countries, says Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, General Secretary of the Church of Norway Council on Ecumenical and International Relations. Up until the present time, the fact that the Church of England did not recognize the ministry of women bishops in the Nordic folk churches set unfortunate limits to the implementation of the Porvoo Common Statement (1992).

According to Rev. Fykse Tveit, the apostolicity of the church, rooted in Christ and the apostles, is equally important to Anglican and Lutheran churches. The ordained ministry is instituted by God in order for the apostolic mission of God’s saving grace in Christ to be maintained throughout history. It is a local ministry of word and sacraments together with a regional ministry of episkopé.

The gender of ordained ministers cannot be a criterion of the church’s apostolicity. On the contrary, the admittance of women to all levels of ordained ministry has contributed significantly to the full expression of God’s mission in the world. As affirmed by the Lutheran World Federation in 2007, “limiting the ordained ministry to men obscures the nature of the church as a sign of our reconciliation and unity in Christ through baptism across the divides of ethnicity, social status and gender (cf. Gal. 3:27-28).”

The Church of England has taken a bold and mature action knowing well the immediate costs involved. The Church of Norway, having gone through a similar process some years ago, and having been much blessed by its fruits, shall accompany the Church of England, as a sister church in communion, with gratitude and with prayers of God’s blessing and guidance in the time to come.