James Alison suggests (“Love in a changing climate”, 7 November) that the minimal reference to gays in the final document of the Synod on the Family shows that the bishops have faced up to having a genuine problem on their hands, which they need help to resolve. I find this suggestion deeply implausible. There are three reasons why the Church cannot honestly confront and rescind its harmful teaching on homosexuality. The first is an outmoded sexual theology that is not fit for purpose for heterosexuals, let alone for homosexuals. The second is an authoritarian ecclesiology, which cannot bring itself to admit that the teaching of the Church has been in grave error. The third is an institutional psychology: many senior figures in the Church are gay men profoundly uncomfortable w