Sentamu and Williams have some understanding of what will happen to the C of E if they allow it to follow the step-by-step changes taken in TECusa in the last 30 years......
The ABC and Sentamu know that something can be forced in the synod.... but people, especially those with thriving churches in the C of E, do not have to lump it if they do not like it.
Nersen Pillay, an international banker, attends a little Docklands boat church but, more importantly, Holy Trinity Brompton. Is he really suggesting that this particular magnet might be about to depart with its people?
I would be very surprised, given its desire to influence.Nevertheless, the point made is valid: that the ordination of women as bishops will make a significant difference to the Church of England. Surveys have indicated that women are more 'liberal' as a whole than men, and do not (in authority) wish to uphold its patriarchy (even if they do). It is clearly a move towards inclusion, even if the politics of the day via parts of the Anglican Communion are excluding other kinds of inclusion (why the Jeffrey John matter hit so many buttons, whatever the truth of the selection story).
As someone preferring independence myself, in a liberal direction (only because I am clearly beyond the boundary of the C of E - although ethical arguments weighed somewhat), I'd say get on with it. Go, and it will cut the pressure cord that comes from parts of abroad. Then the Church of England in its stances can get back to being more culturally representative of the people of the land, instead of a minority at home and of the people in some places abroad. While that change takes place, Rowan Williams, who has encouraged and arranged this internationalism, might at last do the decent thing and resign. His wreckage is everywhere.
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