No female bishop for Scottish Episcopal Church

(RNS/ENI) It is disappointing that a female candidate was not elected Britain’s first female Anglican bishop, but still “encouraging” that a woman was one of the three candidates considered by the Scottish Episcopal Church, said a group that advocates for women’s rights. The Rev. Alison Peden was the first Anglican woman to be short-listed in […]

(RNS/ENI) It is disappointing that a female candidate was not elected Britain’s first female Anglican bishop, but still “encouraging” that a woman was one of the three candidates considered by the Scottish Episcopal Church, said a group that advocates for women’s rights.

The Rev. Alison Peden was the first Anglican woman to be short-listed in Britain as a candidate for bishop. But on Saturday (Jan. 16) an electoral synod of the Scottish church instead chose the Rev. Gregor Duncan as the new bishop of the Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway.

“It was good to think that we could have had a woman bishop in the Anglican church in Britain, and I am sure it will happen before long,” said Christina Rees, chairperson of WATCH (Women and the Church).


“I am delighted for Dr. Gregor Duncan,” Peden said in a statement on Monday. “He is a respected friend of mine, and I am sure he will be an excellent bishop.”

The Scottish Episcopal Church voted in 2003 to allow women bishops.

Bishop David Chillingworth, the leader of the Scottish church who chaired the electoral synod, said gender had not played a part in the decision and that Peden candidacy for the post had helped change the perception of women in the church.

The general synod of the Church of England, the mother church of Anglicanism, voted in 2008 to bring forward legislation to allow the consecration of women as bishops. Some observers have said that final approval might take place in 2012.

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