INTRODUCING YOU TO A NEW WEBSITE

You can access the site here. I came across it while accessing the hundreds of supportive comments to Ruth Gledhill's Articles of faith blog 5th July 'Summer of schism - Why women should be Bishops'. I was surprised to discover just how many of the supportive comments were made by Roman Catholics. The comments are very encouraging and are really making me wonder whether I have perhaps been a bit generous in my thinking that provision should be made for dissenters, the more I think about it the more it doesn't seem to make sense.

I reproduce Ruth's article in full but you need to click on the headline to access comments made to the article:

Summer of Schism: 'Why women must be bishops'

'Bad behavior in electoral synods is not the only thing that has distressed me here and made me VERY thoughtful. We need a process of re-education throughout the Communion, I think (as Rowan has said) and particularly in ‘liberal’ areas like this. The wide-spread ignorance of the basics of Anglicanism, how it came to be and therefore why it enshrines what it enshrines - the Anglican contribution to the coming great church - astounds me. However, there it is and one must soldier on.'

This is just one of the comments sent me by Christina Rees of Watch from the petition for women bishops launched earlier this week at Westminster Abbey. As we report today, there is a danger the legislation will fall completely on Monday. In 29 study groups today, Saturday, before the arguing starts in earnest, synod members are discussing 'to what extent should the Church of England seek to continue to accommodate the present diversity of views within its life on the issue of women's ordination' and 'what are the implications of that for any possible special arrangements for those who on grounds of theological conviction have difficulties over the ordination of women.' The groups have also been asked to consider whether, in the light of the pros and cons of the various options, synod members are clear about the choices they have to make.

All the comments are below. (I'll finish tidying them up later.) Some of them, you will surely agree, are quite moving. At the top is a Roman Catholic priest. It would be interesting if, were all the traditionalist Anglicans to go over to Rome, the debate went over with them. I've published the entire lot below.

I am a Roman Catholic priest in good standing with my church and I wish to say without any reserve that I hope that women bishops are ordained within the Church of England. It will be a sign to us that these things can be done without the heavens falling in on us and as we get used to seeing women in the episcopate it may begin to dawn on us that there is really nothing wrong with this at all. I firmly believe that all the theological arguments against the ordination of women to the ministry either as priests or bishops do not convince at all.