Society of St Wilfrid and St Hilda
Encyclopedia
The Society of St Wilfrid and St Hilda or, more fully, the Mission Society of St Wilfrid and St Hilda is an association led by some bishops of the Church of England
that aims at creating "an ecclesial community that is both loyal to the traditions of the Church of England and yet, because of the clear difference of views about the ordination of women, has its own bishops with jurisdiction and so a guaranteed sacramental and missional life."
While all are opposed the ordination of women as bishops, some of its founders did not rule out their ordination as priests.
Although the decision by the Church of England in July 2010 not to make any special provision for those of its members opposed to admission of women to the episcopate offered little hope of success, the founders of the Society intended their initiative to favour legislation by the Church of England that would make the Society part of its official life.
The Society, whose Coordinating Bishop was Martyn Jarrett
, Bishop of Beverley
, envisaged that parishes could associate themselves with it, and hoped that the Church of England would enact legislation to enable parishes to have a more structured relationship with the Society.
The relationship between the Society and Forward in Faith
is unclear.
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
that aims at creating "an ecclesial community that is both loyal to the traditions of the Church of England and yet, because of the clear difference of views about the ordination of women, has its own bishops with jurisdiction and so a guaranteed sacramental and missional life."
While all are opposed the ordination of women as bishops, some of its founders did not rule out their ordination as priests.
Although the decision by the Church of England in July 2010 not to make any special provision for those of its members opposed to admission of women to the episcopate offered little hope of success, the founders of the Society intended their initiative to favour legislation by the Church of England that would make the Society part of its official life.
The Society, whose Coordinating Bishop was Martyn Jarrett
Martyn Jarrett
Martyn William Jarrett AKC, SSC is the current Bishop of Beverley. He was educated at Cotham Grammar School and King's College London . He was ordained in 1969 and began his ordained ministry with a curacy in Swindon. Following this he held incumbencies in Northolt and then Hillingdon...
, Bishop of Beverley
Bishop of Beverley
The Bishop of Beverley is a Church of England suffragan bishop. The title takes its name after the town of Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England....
, envisaged that parishes could associate themselves with it, and hoped that the Church of England would enact legislation to enable parishes to have a more structured relationship with the Society.
The relationship between the Society and Forward in Faith
Forward in Faith
Forward in Faith is a movement operating in a number of provinces of the Anglican Communion. It represents a traditionalist strand of Anglo-Catholicism and is characterised by its opposition to the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate and, more recently, to more liberal Anglican...
is unclear.