LETTERS
London's gospel
Sir: Your excellent Profile of the Bishop of London (25 October) does not say where he finds a single word of the Lord that justifies his opposing women's ordination. Instead he relies on a tradition inherited from the Jews, one of many that the New Covenant superseded. The tradition itself may well have been an attempt to clip the wings of that redoubtable phenomenon the Jewish materfamilias, and very likely its survival was and is due to a similar fear; but it hardly fits into the gospel of love.
In other respects, Dr Leonard seems able to accept change without difficulty. Our Lord chose Peter to found his univer- sal Church, but the Anglican apostasy appears to be in order. He claims fidelity to his own Church as the guiding principle but is willing to break away if her mind does not march with his. And take the case of that woman priest who celebrated Holy Communion in the deanery of St Paul's: in the good old days this might have brought her a cruel and lingering death — was it not rather trendy to content himself with reporting her to the Archbishop of Canter- bury?
Honor Tracy
The Flat, Walmer Lodge, Hanley Swan, Worcester
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