Seal: what I was taught in seminary

From the Revd Andrew Myers

Madam, — I have been baffled for many years now about the view that the seal of confession (News, 2 May) is absolute.

I trained for the Roman Catholic priesthood in the late 1970s. The issues around safeguarding were not so prominent then, sadly, but we were clearly taught in our lectures on moral theology that the seal was not an absolute right or value, and that issues around disclosures like child abuse trumped, as it were, the right to confidentiality in and outside the confessional. Breaking confidentiality so as not to collude with, or, perhaps, to prevent further, abuse, we were taught, was a duty, not a choice or going against a requirement of church discipline.

I agreed entirely with this. Confession in the RC Church is rarer these days. I worked as a priest in the Church of England for 17 years, but even in some of the Anglo-Catholic parishes where I served, requests for confession were almost non-existent. The view that opportunities for confession would be lost, therefore, is a weak one, as well as morally repugnant. A few theoretical lost opportunities cannot take precedence over the protection of children and vulnerable adults.

The secular world, once again, in my view, appears to be the voice of God in relation to all of this, where the Churches’ record is so poor. As a school governor routinely required to attend safeguarding courses, I was often told that the duty of confidentiality was not absolute in regard to abuse of any kind. This was also made clear in church safeguarding training.

ANDREW MYERS
6 Lyndon Avenue
Garforth, Leeds LS25 1DZ

Genetic determination is key to sex and gender

From Dr N. P. Hudd

Madam, — The letter from the Revd Richard Dormandy (2 May) contains one crucial statement. The debate on sex/gender is about truth. Apart from that, Mr Dormandy propounds gross errors of understanding the centrality of genetic determination.

As a retired consultant physician, I must be very specific that the chromosomal and other errors that occur in physical development are the opposite problem to this matter of self-identification. Errors of sex diagnosis at birth do occur, sometimes chromosomal and sometimes from other errors of development. These unfortunate people have no choice. An error of nature has dealt them a bad hand, and that has nothing to do with self-determination of sex/gender. Mr Dormandy has conflated one problem with its opposite.

The court decision that XY chromosomes mean male and XX mean female is incontrovertible truth. Sundry errors occasionally occur (XXY, XO, XYY, and others), but the presence of a Y chromosome means a male phenotype.

That the resolution of this issue by a court is a simple truth cannot be denied. That there are those who struggle with their identity demands our wholehearted support, sympathy, and love. All people are entitled to live their lives in the way that they wish, but the awful logistic consequences of the court decision are the consequence of the assertion of truth.

It seems probable that the problems of public toilets and changing rooms cannot be solved. This is consequent upon the determination with which an untenable viewpoint has been pursued. At some time, now or well into the future, the issue would hit the buffers, very fast and very hard.

This has now happened, and we must all strive to make the best of an extremely bad job, though starting from truth cannot be all bad.

N. P. HUDD
Consultant physician
13 Elmfield, Tenterden
Kent TN30 6RE

The time it takes to appoint to see of Canterbury

From Mr Simon Kershaw

Madam, — Canon Derek Carpenter (Letter, 2 May) compares the time to appoint the next Archbishop of Canterbury with previous vacancies. One answer might be that the Most Revd Justin Welby resigned rather unexpectedly, with more or less immediate effect, whereas, in all the earlier cases, especially the recent ones, the retirement date was known well in advance.

I suspect that his retirement was expected to be announced this spring, to take effect from late this year or early next, and that the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) process would have been held between these dates, and the name of the next Archbishop known. Indeed, it is plausible that the CNC is in fact taking place on exactly those pencilled-in dates.

In a papal election, the cardinals act alone, whereas, here, clergy and laity are involved. Potential candidates have an input and are interviewed. Many lay people, and perhaps some of the clergy, will have secular jobs and cannot just sit like a conclave until a decision is made. In a Church with synodical government, it is surely right and proper to have this wider participation, even though it lengthens the process.

SIMON KERSHAW (Lay Canon)
5 Sharp Close, St Ives
Cambridgeshire PE27 6UN

Resisting change in the Church through boycotts

From the Revd Richard Stainer

Madam, — I would like to take issue with the Revd Simon Falshaw (Letters, 2 May). It is not those that want change that are seeking division within the Communion: it is those that aggressively want to stay in the past and keep the rest of us with them.

If I might take Mr Falshaw’s analogy a step further: those of us who want a revised doctrine have already made it safely across the level crossing, while others are dithering on the tracks in danger of being hit by the slow train of irrelevance.

Following Christ is all about change. In two thousand years, Christians have changed in their views and practices a great deal. Since its inception, the Church of England has changed likewise. Of course, it takes careful consideration and much prayer, but change is inevitable. God did not stop revealing himself to mortals at the end of the first century. Revelation is ongoing.

If some in the Church don’t like to change, that is fine: they can continue to make their case; but boycotts of chrism services and refusing to eat with deanery colleagues seem to me a very childish way to go about trying to win an argument.

RICHARD STAINER
High Hedges, Felsham Road
Bradfield St George
Bury St Edmunds
Suffolk IP30 0AD

Stages of Faith do not necessarily mean progress

From Dr Nick Land

Madam, — The Revd Des Williamson commends the use of Fowler’s Stages of Faith (Letter, 2 May). In any scale, based on changes over time, however, one must determine whether the changes observed are positive or pathological. Fowler clearly thought that they were positive and, by mischievously placing Mother Teresa at Stage 6, he implies that those of us stuck at Stage 3 (Synthetic Conventional) who continue to have a faith based on the external authority of God’s revelation through his Living and written Word are spiritually immature.

But perhaps I can mischievously suggest that Fowler’s Stages of Faith reflect not progress, but pathology. The egocentric “demythologising” of Stage 4 (Individuative-Reflective) could describe faith being undermined by liberal humanism. Stage 5 (Conjunctive), with its holding together of many “paradoxical truths”, may reflect the erosion of faith by post-modernism and expressive individualism. The fact that Stage 6 (Universalising) appears to embrace a syncretistic universalism should be a clue that not all “progress” is positive!

So, maybe Fowler’s Stages do have a value, but as a diagnostic tool to help determine what teaching and discipleship an individual may need to call them back to their first love of Jesus (Revelation 2.4).

NICK LAND
Synod representative for York diocese
Low Farm House
Ingleby Greenhow
Great Ayton TS9 6RG

Comparative flourishing in contemporary C of E

From Mr N. J. Inkley

Madam, — If only there were a flourishometer! The Bishop of Croydon, Dr Rosemarie Mallett, says that many female clergy tell her that the Five Guiding Principles are not working, and that they themselves are not flourishing (Letters, 17 April). Yet the number of female clergy continue to grow, as does their percentage of the total.

It has been demonstrated that female clergy outperform their numerical share in appointments to senior positions. (I make no comment on the merit or otherwise of this.) Dioceses still have deans of women’s ministry, even when male clergy are in the minority. The passage of female bishops into the House of Lords is prioritised by special arrangements. That scenario seems quite good.

As it happens, some of the churches in the patronage of St Wilfrid and St Hilda are indeed flourishing. Whether their (inevitably male) clergy feel themselves to be flourishing, when they seem to suffer the extremes of passing over for promotion, I do not know. They are a quieter constituency.

If the female clergy feel that their flourishing can be secured only by the withdrawal of the Five Principles and the ending of the patronage of The Society, we must surely lose the word “mutual” straight away, and the debate ends. I would have thought that all concerned were mutually co-existing quite well, even if the degree of happily doing so varied.

NEIL INKLEY
Ribble Court Care Home
150 Liverpool Old Road
Much Hoole
Preston PR4 4QB

Israel’s record in respect of the Palestinians

From Mr Benjamin da Silveira

Madam, — “Jewish settlers treat the Arabs with hostility and cruelty, trespass unjustly, beat them shamelessly for no sufficient reason, and even take pride in doing so.” These words were written, not about West Bank settlers in 2025, but about migration from Eastern Europe to the lands that would eventually become Israel, by the early Zionist leader Ahad Ha’am in 1891.

To a large extent, Israel, throughout her short existence, has ignored warnings such as these, even from her own leaders, and has sleep-walked into the current quagmire. Does the Revd Ian Duffield (Letters, 25 April) think that Hamas and the PLO would pose a threat to Israel today (or even exist) if the “People of the Land” had been treated with compassion?

As Canon Oestreicher points out (Letters, same issue), Israel is treated as if were above international law. To paraphrase John Mortimer’s character Rumpole: The most dangerous government is the one that believes it has God on its side.

BENJAMIN DA SILVEIRA
527 West Kiernan Avenue
Spokane, WA 99207, USA

Trump, the fake Pontiff

From the Revd Rob Marsh

Madam, — Words are a struggle to describe how I felt, when I saw the picture that Donald Trump posted on social media of himself as Pope. This feeling was compounded even more, as it was shown on the BBC Sunday-morning news.

Does this man not realise how many people around the world he will have alienated, or does he just not care, in his desire to rule the world?

I am hoping that I am not the only one appalled by his action.

ROB MARSH
Niton Rectory, Pan Lane
Niton, Isle of Wight PO38 2BT

Predictive doubter

From the Revd Clair Jaquiss

Madam, — A friend texted a greeting early on Easter Day. “Alleluia! Christ is risen!” I responded full of Easter joy. “He is risen indeed! All . . .” Predictive text kindly completed the message for me. “He is risen indeed! Allegedly.”

Ah well. . .

CLAIR JAQUISS
Ingersley, Belgrave Road
Bowdon WA14 2NZ