Staggering
Sir: As an ordinand in training for the priesthood at one of the 'frightful' theolo- gical colleges collectively condemned by Ferdinand Mount in his review of Dr Gareth Bennett's To the Church of Eng- land (19 November), I object very strongly to being stereotyped as an 'arrogant, ignor- ant social worker' in the making. This House continues to train many whose views about the Church, and about their vocations, are broadly in sympathy with the conservative Anglican Catholic out- look Dr Bennett described, rooted firmly in the spiritual and intellectual traditions which have distinguished the English Church in the past.
I hope that this more balanced assess- ment of our alleged frightfulness will help to counteract the rather ill-informed and eccentric picture of training in the Church today, which seems to have stemmed in recent weeks from Mr Graham Turner's monothematic article in the Sunday Tele- graph.
Robin Ward
St Stephen's House, 16 Marston Street, Ox ford
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