Sir, The Church of England is portrayed as being polarised and rife with acrimony over the issue of women bishops. Yet in the 14 years since women have been exercising rich and varied priestly ministries, clergy of opposing views have built relationships of trust with one another and been able to preach the Christian story of reconciliation and love with some sense of integrity.

The 2005 General Synod voted by a large majority to remove the legal obstacles which currently prohibit women from becoming bishops. The Synod debate this week will concern what provision is to be made for those opposed. This is surely the Church’s opportunity to grow up, and to resolve to trust its future bishops, both male and female, and to make sensitive arrangements for those who cannot welcome the ministry of ordained women.

To attempt to enshrine this trust in legislation would be to fatally undermine it, and to make a mockery of the Christian love and understanding which should underpin all our relating. It would also legalise discrimination once again and cut across all that we say about a God whose image is equally reflected in both male and female.

Over 1,300 female clergy, 1,000 male clergy and more than 2,000 lay church members have signed a statement expressing our immense sorrow at the prospect of alternative church structures and discriminatory legislation. We long to see the consecration of women bishops so that our considerable gifts, our particular histories and perspectives, and our distinctive voices might be used and heard to the glory of God at all levels in the structures of the Church. We believe, with the majority of Synod, that the time is right. It is with great sadness that we would risk the prospect of delay — and therefore the knowledge, for some women, that the Church will waste many of the gifts and resources that we offer.

Yet we would rather live with this grief than see women bishops with curtailed authority and the further fracturing of a Church that we have loved and nurtured. We firmly believe that the needs of all parties can be met through a rigorous code of practice, mutually agreed between those of opposing views, carefully worked out with grace and generosity, but without the need for protection by law. Women bishops elsewhere in the Anglican Communion have shown how this can work. We can all learn from them.

An open letter to the Archbishops, from priests opposed to women clergy, gave rise to headlines stating that 1,300 will leave if their needs are not met through legislation (report, July 1). This is misleading. Forty-four per cent of them are already retired, their letter does not say that they will leave but that they will be thinking hard about the way ahead and considering whether or not they can stay. The same letter asks that the opponents of the Synod’s decision continue to be afforded respect. Of course they must — but if that respect is to be real and worth anything, it cannot be legislated for, but must be offered graciously and received with trust.

I write as a female priest but with no axe to grind. I am divorced and remarried and have made choices which mean that I have not even a toe-hold on the path to being a bishop. I simply offer an alternative picture of the current situation and future possibilities.

The ministries of 3000 female clergy are already received with joy and cherished by many in churches, cathedrals, prisons, hospitals, schools and countless other contexts across the length and breadth of England. In the same way, women should now be encouraged to offer their considerable gifts of leadership in the role of bishop and be received gladly and with Christian grace.

The Rev Rosemary lain-Priestley
Secretary to the National Association of Diocesan Advisers in Women’s Ministry & Dean of Women’s Ministry

Sir, It is not always realised in England that, in many countries where the Anglican Church is strong, homosexual acts are regarded as serious criminal offences (as they once were in England). The penalty on conviction may be imprisonment for life (for example, Tanzania, India, the non-Sharia states of Nigeria) or imprisonment for up to 14 years (for example, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia).

However much one may disapprove of other countries’ penal codes, it is understandable if the churches in those countries, irrespective of their interpretation of certain biblical texts, are unwilling to ordain as priests or consecrate as bishops men who may, for reasons which have little connection with the essentials of the Christian faith, find themselves condemned to spend much or all of their ministry in prison.

Any settlement of the current differences of opinion on gay rights should take account, with Christian sympathy, of the differing circumstances in which different provinces of the Anglican Communion find themselves.

Edward Nugee QC
Lincoln’s Inn, London WC2

Sir, We will not find God by looking in the mirror and we delude ourselves gravely if we try to redefine his love by our own theologies of self-indulgence.

The Rev Campbell Paget
Brenchley, Kent

Sir, It is deeply disappointing that you choose to describe possible provision by the Church of England for those who cannot accept the ordination of women to the episcopate as “enshrining discrimination”. (Leader, July 3).

The issue has always been one of how best to hold together in one Church of England loyal Anglicans with differing convictions on a disputed question of faith and order, so that all may flourish. The signatories to the open letter to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York are not “threatening to defect,” if women are consecrated as bishops, but making plain their concerns about the need for provision which has theological integrity and is secure in law. Nor are they “defying” anyone. The note from the Archbishops which accompanied the publication of the text of the motion to be debated at the General Synod on Monday makes it clear that they are looking for an open discussion, in which all options will be given a fair hearing. The Archbishops have not, for very good reasons, declared their mind as to which outcome they might favour. Above all, they need our prayers as they weigh and ponder how best to lead the Church at this time.

The Rev J.M.R. Baker
Principal
Pusey House, Oxford

Sir, Your editorial (July 3) urges the Archbishop of Canterbury to “address the defiance” of those clergy who cannot accept the ministry of women as bishops. I do not believe he will follow your advice. The Archbishop is on record as having said at General Synod (February 2006) that he recognised that our position was one of “obedience”.

We seek provision within the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, under the leadership of Archbishop Rowan, as loyal Anglicans. We believe that proper provision within the Church of England will be a model of good practice to the rest of the Anglican Communion, and contribute enormously towards holding the Communion together.

The Rev Canon Simon Killwick
Chairman of the Catholic Group in General Synod