JAMAICAN Anglicans are supportive of their American counterparts who have just smashed centuries-old Anglican tradition in choosing the Rev Katherine Jefferts Schori, the Bishop of Nevada, to head the Episcopal Church in the United States.

Since the election of the first woman head of the US Episcopal Church, as it is called there, questions have been raised about the view of the Anglican Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands on the matter, said the Rt Rev Harold Daniel acting as canonical administrator in the absence of Lord Bishop Alfred Reid who is on leave.

"Persons have asked if the decision in the Episcopal Church will affect Anglicans here," said Daniel. "The Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands is a part of the Church in the Province of the West Indies and has its own mandate to conduct its affairs as determined by its members and the structures of the Church.

Hence, what takes place in another province does not determine what happens here."
Daniel said that in any case, "an issue such as the admission of women to the episcopate would be considered within the Church in the Province of the West Indies".

This would not preclude individual dioceses from putting the matter on their agenda and debating it locally. "In fact, the Jamaican Church, which has always been forward-thinking, in such matters, as recently as 2004, debated it at the annual Synod," Daniel said.

The debate was triggered by a resolution marking the 10th anniversary of the ordination of women to the diaconate and the priesthood in the local diocese.

That resolution called for support for the ordination of women to the episcopate and requested that the matter be taken up at the Provincial level, Daniel added.

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