The detailed voting lists for the electronic votes at last week’s meeting of the General Synod have been released. The list for the take note motion on the House of Bishops’ report on Marriage and Same Sex Relationships after the Shared Conversations is here.
Readers may be particularly interested in the voting in the House of Bishops which I have shown in the table below.
The bishops voted 43 in favour and one against with no recorded abstentions. The Bishop of Coventry (the only vote against) has said that he pressed the wrong button on his voting machine and intended to vote in favour. The Bishop of Southwark has said that he intended to record an abstention but failed to do so.
There are 53 places in the House of Bishops (42 diocesan bishops, the Bishop of Dover, the Bishop to the Forces and nine elected suffragan bishops). Two diocesan sees were vacant on the day of the vote. So, in addition to Southwark, six bishops were absent from the vote. If any readers know for certain the reason for any of the absences, please let us know via the comments.
Electronic voting results for Item 14
Marriage and Same Sex Relationships after the Shared Conversations: a report from the House of Bishops (GS 2055):
‘That the Synod do take note of this report.’
| Voting in the House of Bishops | |||
| see | name | vote | |
| 1 | Canterbury | Justin Welby | for |
| 2 | York | John Sentamu | for |
| 3 | London | Richard Chartres | absent |
| 4 | Durham | Paul Butler | for |
| 5 | Winchester | Tim Dakin | for |
| 6 | Bath & Wells | Peter Hancock | for |
| 7 | Birmingham | David Urquhart | absent |
| 8 | Blackburn | Julian Henderson | for |
| 9 | Bristol | Michael Hill | absent |
| 10 | Carlisle | James Newcome | for |
| 11 | Chelmsford | Stephen Cottrell | for |
| 12 | Chester | Peter Forster | for |
| 13 | Chichester | Martin Warner | for |
| 14 | Coventry | Christopher Cocksworth | against – by mistake |
| 15 | Derby | Alastair Redfern | for |
| 16 | Ely | Stephen Conway | for |
| 17 | Gibraltar in Europe | Robert Innes | for |
| 18 | Exeter | Robert Atwell | for |
| 19 | Gloucester | Rachel Treweek | for |
| 20 | Guildford | Andrew Watson | absent |
| 21 | Hereford | Richard Frith | for |
| 22 | Leeds | Nicholas Baines | for |
| 23 | Leicester | Martyn Snow | for |
| 24 | Lichfield | Michael Ipgrave | for |
| 25 | Lincoln | Christopher Lowson | for |
| 26 | Liverpool | Paul Bayes | for |
| 27 | Manchester | David Walker | for |
| 28 | Newcastle | Christine Hardman | for |
| 29 | Norwich | Graham James | for |
| 30 | Oxford | Steven Croft | for |
| 31 | Peterborough | Donald Allister | for |
| 32 | Portsmouth | Christopher Foster | for |
| 33 | Rochester | James Langstaff | absent |
| 34 | St Albans | Alan Smith | for |
| 35 | St Edmundsbury & Ipswich | Martin Seeley | for |
| 36 | Salisbury | Nicholas Holtam | for |
| 37 | Sheffield | vacant | see vacant |
| 38 | Sodor & Man | vacant | see vacant |
| 39 | Southwark | Christopher Chessun | absent – but intended to abstain |
| 40 | Southwell & Nottingham | Paul Williams | for |
| 41 | Truro | Timothy Thornton | for |
| 42 | Worcester | John Inge | for |
| 43 | Dover | Trevor Willmott | for |
| 44 | Forces | Nigel Stock | for |
| 45 | Fulham | Jonathan Baker | for |
| 46 | Willesden | Peter Broadbent | for |
| 47 | Southampton | Jonathan Frost | for |
| 48 | Ludlow | Alistair Magowan | for |
| 49 | Lynn | Jonathan Meyrick | for |
| 50 | Warrington | Richard Blackburn | absent |
| 51 | Huddersfield | Jonathan Gibbs | for |
| 52 | Stockport | Elizabeth Lane | for |
| 53 | Beverley | Glyn Webster | for |
If you’d like to see the results by diocese have a look here
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzMyH8nMD_OdaEpDY1dVY3BiVUk/view?usp=sharing
Chartres has retired so shouldn’t that be vacant not absent?
Interested that Bishop Mike Bristol was absent
I notice Susannah Leafe amongst the laity who voted against which looks like a “it was too liberal” vote to me
The See of London is not vacant until the end of the month.
Votes from Libby Lane, Rachel Treweek and Christine Hardman in favor of a report that sought to maintain institutional homophobia ought to put to rest the sexist nonsense about women bringing a new, caring (or worse, “nurturing”) perspective. Instead, they’re equal to their male colleagues in all things, and that ain’t a compliment.
James, you cannot argue that a vote to Take Note constitutes an endorsement of the content of the report. Speaker after speaker who said they were going to vote for taking note also made trenchant criticisms of its content.
Hear , hear James!
As mentioned in an earlier comment, the Bishop of London’s resignation from his see is not effective until 28 February, so he was technically absent. But the informal convention is that a bishop does not normally take part in formal church business after his/her farewell service, and for London this was on 2 February.
A reliable source has informed me that three bishops (Birmingham, Bristol and Rochester) were absent for various good reasons having nothing to do with the matter at hand.
re James’s comment on women bishops’ voting:
on a quick tot-up, male clergy voted 3 to 2 to ‘take note’. Female clergy, in strong contrast, voted over 4 to 1 against against taking note. I’m certainly not going to give a ‘sexist nonsense’ about ‘women bringing a new, more caring perspective’ interpretation. But it is rather a striking contrast. Without female clergy the whole Synod would have ‘taken note’.
Isn’t part of the problem interpreting the outcome that people voted against taking note for a wide range of (sometimes quite opposite) reasons? Some clearly wanted a much more radical way forward, others felt the report went too far from the church’s current stance. Of course the vote means the Synod must start again, but isn’t that just a change of PROCESS? It doesn’t mean that any particular OUTCOME is more (or less) likely.
I wouldn’t argue that taking note’s an endorsement, Simon, but the hierarchy would’ve, as they’ve done previously. You’re right, some supporters of equality did vote in favor (as some traditionalists voted against). However, the House of Bishops knew how things were going down, which is why they lobbied so hard in favor, and the new OBOF lobbied so hard against. That’s interesting, Fr. Rob. There could be some subtler gender differences at work, but another possibility’s that it breaks down by tradition, and more male clergy are more conservative (due to beliefs about headship and the apostolic succession, generally conservative… Read more »
Taking note of this report would have become an endorsement, because everyone knew the hierarchy would have portrayed it that way. See Archbishop Welby’s portrayal of the recent ACC vote to “receive” his report on the primates’ meeting. He portrayed it as endorsing the “consequences” the primates had urged. But that is not at all what the ACC intended. As a result, the Achbishop’s inaccurate portrayal of deliberative outcomes has caused Synod to think more carefully about how it deliberates on what the Bishops put in front of it. And Synod’s vote not to take note is _certainly_ a rejection… Read more »
I wonder; is one factor in this equation re women’s voting on the Bishop’s report the possibilty that the women bishops who voted ‘For’ were likely to have been appointed bishops because of their conservatism ? Just Asking!
“Taking note of this report would have become an endorsement, because everyone knew the hierarchy would have portrayed it that way. See Archbishop Welby’s portrayal of the recent ACC vote to “receive” his report on the primates’ meeting. He portrayed it as endorsing the “consequences” the primates had urged. But that is not at all what the ACC intended.” There is another factor. “Maximum flexibility” was, deliberately I think, left undefined. That worried both conservatives and liberals. Leaving key terms to be decided after a vote is a common – if unsavoury tactic – of managers forced to govern through… Read more »
Father Ron Smith. Except that they are not conservative actually. And in the debate one of the two diocesans admitted to having changed her mind.
There seem to be quite a lot of absent bishops. Is that more than normal? I wonder if people feel it’s better to be absent than to abstain.