To fly or not to fly and if so are the wings clipped? In fact it might be mother bird in the nest sending fledglings out in flight.

Dawn French wants in the next series for the vicar of Dibley to become a bishop - this should be required viewing!

Oh dear, oh dear - what a mess! It does amuse me a little, sorry, only human, that flying bishops sent out to perform rites of initiation etc to Christians who cannot accept female oversight might have to submit to the authority of a female bishop.

See Telegraph
The Rev Canon Jane Shaw, dean of divinity at New College, Oxford, said: "If they enshrine flying bishops in law they'll be going against the will of the Synod. Women should be treated equally, but this effort to reach a compromise is unfair on 50 per cent of the human race."

The plan might disappoint both sides. Traditionalists wanted the flying bishops to have their own jurisdiction rather than be reliant on the delegation of authority by the diocesan bishop, who might be a woman once the measure becomes law.

My first essay (assessed) for college module Church and Ministry is
'What are the key theological issues which divide those who would argue for the ordination of women as Bishops, from those who argue against it?'

This will prove very interesting for me. I really do aim to thoroughly investigate both sides of the argument. I am doing a lot of reading and photcopying of short loan books and have just invested in my own copy of Piper and Grudem's 'Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood' - I must admit it's usually with great excitement that I rip open my deliveries from Amazon but on the day that this arrived, I simply gave a little chuckle at the significance of it all, and set it quietly and reflectively on my coffee table. I'll keep you up-dated as to how I get on. Like I haven't been living and breathing this issue for the last 18 months, be prepared, I'm afraid, for this topic to take up a lot of room on this blog. I feel so privileged to be living at this exciting time - when this issue is so 'of the moment'. Many of the books I've been pointed towards on the reading list by my tutor seem so out-dated. I'm encouraged not to quote from the internet but I'm hoping that I will be able to allude to recent events and media commentary on the issues, although I must make sure it is the theological issues that grip me - oh - to do all this in 3000 words - I could write millions and I'm sure the C of E will continue to contribute words to this dialogue until perhaps it eventually disappears into history like the great split from the Catholic Church, often alluded to, frequently studied but not something protestantism will return to completely.