Just over thirty years ago I was serving as a priest in the Church of England. At that time the debate over the ordination of women to the priesthood had reached its climax. I was vicar of two rural parishes on the Isle of Wight and the bitter conflict raged at every level in the Church – within families, in parochial church councils, deanery synods, diocesan synods and finally in the Church’s ruling body, the General Synod.
There were arguments to be made from both sides from theology, Sacred Scripture, psychology, sociology and Church history, but in the absence of any agreed terminal authority, the most widely heard arguments in favour of the innovation were of three kinds: pragmatic, political and sentimental.
