By making the ordination of women to all orders of ministry compulsory, the Episcopal Church set itself apart from the rest of the Anglican Communion long before there arose the current controversy over the ordination of “partnered” homosexual persons and the blessing of same-gender unions unions, according to the Diocese of Fort Worth, which filed a petition with the Panel of Reference, seeking protection from the Archbishop of Canterbury for its traditional beliefs.

In a letter dated July 11, the bishop and president of the standing committee said the diocese is subject to “marginalization and intimidation” from the “authorities” of the Episcopal Church “for upholding the Church’s historic practice of holy orders” and its “refusal to ordain or license women as priests.”

The Rt. Rev. Jack L. Iker, Bishop of Fort Worth, and the Very Rev. Ryan S. Reed, president of the standing committee, said the circumstances in the diocese met the conditions of a “serious theological dispute” as defined by the Archbishop of Canterbury in his mandate establishing the panel. The diocese announced the filing on July 25. A copy of the original petition and pleadings were mailed to Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold.

In supporting documentation submitted along with its petition, the diocese notes a troubling parallel between the ordination of women, which was first made permissible and later became mandatory, and the ordination of non-celibate homosexual persons as priests and bishops. Fort Worth claims that in 1999 the Diocese of Eau Claire was told that it must chose a bishop who would ordain women if it wished to receive the necessary consents from other bishops and dioceses of the Episcopal Church. The threat to withhold consent makes the survival of “traditionalist clergy” legally impossible within the Episcopal Church, according to the petition submitted by Fort Worth.

“Ironically, following the election in 2003 of a practicing homosexual as bishop in the Diocese of New Hampshire, we heard the same people argue that a diocese should have whoever it wanted as its bishop. Since then the Diocese of Fort Worth has been told by the Presiding Bishop and others in authority that, should it again elect a bishop opposed to women in the presbyterate and episcopate, the bishop-elect would not receive the necessary consents to be consecrated.”

Fort Worth becomes the second diocese to petition the Archbishop of Canterbury for relief. The Diocese of Recife has also sought protection from the Anglican Province of Brazil.

Under the rules of procedure the Panel of Reference adopted at its first meeting, July 12-14 in London, “the panel will work under conditions of strict confidentiality.”

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