Forward in Faith

Forward in Faith (FiF) is an organization operating in the Church of England and the Scottish Episcopal Church. It represents a traditionalist strand of Anglo-Catholicism and is characterised by its opposition to the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate. It also takes a traditionalist line on other matters of doctrine. Its counterparts in Wales and the USA are Credo Cymru and Forward in Faith North America (FIFNA.)

FiF was formed in 1992 in response to approval by the General Synod of the Church of England of the ordination of women to the priesthood, initially an umbrella body for a number of Catholic societies and campaigning groups. It became a membership organization in 1994 and was registered as a charity in 1996. The traditionalist group in the Scottish Episcopal Church joined forces with Forward in Faith in 1997. Credo Cymru, the traditionalist body in the Church in Wales, established formal links with Forward in Faith in 2003, the two remain separate organisations.

For its first two decades, Forward in Faith's main role was to campaign for provision by the Church of England for those of its members who would be unable to receive the ministry of women bishops and those ordained by them.

A high point of Forward in Faith’s first decade was ‘Christ Our Future’, a mass to mark the turn of the millennium which filled the 10,000-capacity London Arena. The Eucharist was concelebrated by the Archbishop of York, David Hope, with more than 35 other bishops and 750 priests, and the preacher was the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres.

Consecrated Women (Canterbury Press, 2004), the report of a Forward in Faith working party, was published as a contribution to the debate on women in the episcopate. Its theological section was later republished, together with other material, in Fathers in God? (Canterbury Press, 2015).

Following the ordination of women to the episcopate, Forward in Faith's main role is as the democratically-structured membership organization and registered charity which supports, finances and administers The Society under the patronage of S. Wilfrid and S. Hilda.

Especially in its early years, Forward in Faith had a number of Evangelical members, but today its membership is overwhelmingly Anglo-Catholic.

In 2009, there were reports that Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vienna, had been meeting with the Forward in Faith chairman, John Broadhurst, Anglican Bishop of Fulham, at the suggestion of the Pope.

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