The subservience of women in the Church is inextricably linked to the problems it is currently facing, not least, its gross mishandling of clerical sexual abuse. However, as Tina Beattie points out in her article (“Women and the post-Covid Church”, 6 June), the lockdown has brought online Catholic women’s groups to the fore. I was fortunate enough to join the Catholic Women’s Council Pentecost Liturgy on Zoom last Sunday, and felt a real sense of belonging that I have not felt in some time. It gave a glimpse of a truly inclusive global Church.

Pope Francis rightly asserts: “We cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form.” It is to be hoped that, sooner rather than later, the Church recognises that, under its current structures, women are an excluded group.

(Dr) Eilis Field
Burton on Trent, Staffordshire