I know that having a woman minister brought me back to the church after decades. People come or stay in a church, parish, denomination for so many different reasons.

Faith and spirituality get so riven by other agendas. I find that sad, but certainly inevitable unless everyone keeps yoked to the status quo.

Others, of course, would oppose it. There is a sizable fringe of traditionalists who think the current Pope (and all pontiffs since Vatican II) is an impostor and a fraud.

In any case, there are good and bad things that come with this more cautious, slow-going approach. Just as the more ‘meteoric’ change in Anglicanism has led to good changes, it has also led to some fracture, some internal disruption and a possible split. The trick is achieving change without so disrupting the institution that the center fails to hold, I suppose.

One of the things I so value is the debate over what we should be and the willingness to shift on that. I don’t understand how anyone can profess Christianity and abhor gays or shudder at the idea of a woman at the altar. Surely, acceptance, let alone brotherly/sisterly love is essential to this.