From the Revd Mary Strømmen
Sir, - I was sorry to read Canon Angela Tilby's scathing review
of Julia Ogilvy's collection of interviews Women in waiting:
Prejudice at the heart of the Church (Books, 20 June).
I had read this book and enjoyed it. I had also recommended it,
both to women with experience of ordained ministry and to those
considering their own possible vocation to it.
The book is by no means a dispassionate or academic approach to
the questions what a woman's vocation may mean, and how it may be
put into practice in the institutional structures we have in the
Church today. But surely we have had plenty of writing and
discussion on the theory surrounding this?
Ogilvy presents us with the thoughts and experiences of a small
group of women who have reached senior positions, but are are still
very much in the minority. It is useful for other women, and also,
I hope, for men, to see what their journey has been like. The women
have different personalities and backgrounds. We get only their own
perspective on their journeys, but that is the nature of an
interview. Despite the challenges and difficulties they had faced,
the general impression I was left with was not one of self-pity. I
found it on the whole to be an inspiring record of endurance and
faithfulness.
Yes, there is more room for closer recording and analysis of the
experiences of the clergy, but I do not think that this devalues
the contribution of books such as this, and certainly would not
join Canon Tilby in wishing it had not been written.
MARY STRØMMEN
Lykkestien 4, 7053 Ranheim, Norway
From Dr Colin Podmore
Sir, - Though I agree wholeheartedly with the words attributed
to me by Sally Muggeridge (Letters, 4
July), I did not write them. They come from a New
Directions editorial, and so the credit belongs to the Editor,
the Revd Philip Corbett.
COLIN PODMORE
Director of Forward in Faith
2A The Cloisters, Gordon Square
London WC1H 0AG
From Rosalind Richardson
Sir, - If the Revd Paul Williamson (Letters, 4
July) wishes to use scripture's description of the bishop
(masculine) as "the husband of one wife" as the basis for his
argument against female bishops, he is presumably also seeking to
ensure that unmarried male clergy are prevented from becoming
bishops, or, indeed - reading a little further in the Pauline text
- to prohibit those without children from episcopal office.
ROSALIND RICHARDSON
3 Park Avenue, Bideford
Devon EX 39 2QH