Women Bishops? Don't panic

First, let us remember that most people's dealing with the clergy of the Church of England is at parish level. The ordination of women as priests twenty years ago has been a seismic shift in the Church and it is all the better for it. It may be significant that the diocese of Chichester which seems racked with problems connected to abuse is the most institutionally anti-women one in the Church of England. Most people on the edge of the church come across their women vicars at weddings and funerals, at Christmas, where, in my experience, they have a type of pastoral care very different from that of the men: it is good to have both in the Church of England.

Secondly, the vote was lost in the House of Laity. The extremes of the church often consist of the most passionate, and the result is that the House of Laity is very unrepresentative of the Church nationally. It is a matter for the huge, moderate and welcoming middle of the church to get onto Synod and stop this nonsense. Most people in the pews want women in leadership.

Thirdly, the extremes. The sort of Anglo-Catholics who oppose women priests often seem to have a total blindspot when it comes to reality. The lovers of Rome forgets that the Pope doesn't recognise us as a real church and these priests as real priests. We are the Church of England which, after centuries of tension with the imperialist master in the Vatican claimed once again that we do not need to be told what to do by a legalistically-minded and corrupt foreign leadership. The Church of England is as it is because we took on renaissance thought, the enlightenment and the historic and scientific method of thought, and are open to the real world. We don't need Rome. Rome follows us, usually centuries later. One day the Roman Catholics will have married clergy, then women clergy. We are the Research and Development Arm of the Universal Church.

And when it comes to some of these Evangelicals, the Reform type. They treat the Scriptures of the Church as though they are the Qur'an. They say nonsensical things like, 'The Bible teaches. . .' The Bible can be used for every viewpoint to prove anything. It is not Law. That is why we are Christians and not Jews. We do not need Laws to be saved. They start with a view and find Scriptural proof, as though Nahum or Jude had the final word. They forget that it is Christ who is God's Word, and that the Holy Spirit is leading us, as she has always led us into new truths. Their thinking is naive and lazy and they are a terrible threat to truth: and Jesus Christ is Truth, not some random quotation from Scripture.

Ten years ago I thought that Rowan Williams could deal with these things. His legacy is that he didn't. The great teacher didn't teach.

So our challenge is to demand reality and honesty from the bullying branches of the Church, and let our (often wonderful) women priests continue their ministry.