Bishop of Ebbsfleet to lead Anglicans to Rome

Damian Thompson reports that the CofE Bishop of Ebbsfleet, Andrew Burnham will lead fellow Anglo-Catholics to Rome in the aftermath of Synod shoving women bishops down the throats of objectors. He’s been one of the “flying bishops” ministering to objectors to women’s ordination.

He rightly does not have any trust in the promised so-called “code of practice”: "How could we trust a code of practice to deliver a workable ecclesiology if every suggestion we have made for our inclusion has been turned down flat? How could we trust a code of practice when those who are offering it include those who have done most to undermine and seek to revoke the code of practice in force for these last 14 years?”

And that’s not to mention that likely women bishops such as Miranda Threlfall-Holmes opposed even a sham code of practice.

This past Autumn, I had the pleasure of sharing a few breakfasts at Pusey House with Bishop Burnham. He is an affable, straight-talking man – not the sort you’d expect to be an English bishop!

This move isn’t a surprise to me. I do hate to see him go, but certainly understand he’s been shoved by Synod’s act. I hope others will look closely at alternatives that keep them within Anglicanism, however.