I enjoyed Joanna Moorhead’s column (The Tablet, 7 February) thoroughly. I had 40 years in teaching, the last 20-odd at a sixth form college and can't help feeling that a major factor in the loss of that generation is the nonsense, as they see it, of popes and cardinals pontificating to the chorus of "There will be no discussion on this, I have declared it definitively" etc. This applies of course not only to women priests but contraception, forbidding of general absolution, this is the translation you must use and so on. I think the only way to try and stop the rot is for laity such as Ms Moorhead to simply ignore 'em, pray for them and hope the Holy Spirit will give enough of the hierarchies the guts to say: that was wrong, we made a mistake, popes do, let's listen to people. Hope a few cardinals get a look at her article. ?
Kevin Dean, Blackburn, Lancs
Yet again, the glib use of the word equality à propos women priests. By equality, does Joanna Moorehead mean the same as, or, equality of opportunity? The Church of England has shown us the first, where the majority of women priests whom I have met have appeared as surrogate men, in a priesthood of a thoroughly male construction. Our problem, in the Catholic Church, is the blueprint for the priesthood, and our calibration of values, rather than of gender. If we are speaking of equality of opportunity, then I think it might make the matter clearer to speak of giving dignity, respect and true worth to the many gifts more generally pertaining to the female gender, but incarnate in all people, male and female, rich and poor, clever and simple, et. al.?
Judith Yeo, Exeter
The prejudiced and discriminatory attitude of many members of our hierarchy towards Catholic women is well known. In failing to send any official representative to the episcopal ordination of Bishop Lane, they are now showing them selves up as extremely gauche and discourteous, which, unfortunately may reflect on the Church generally. I certainly feel ashamed and embarrassed. Whether or not we agree with women's ordination (which I do), we should respect other people’s beliefs, which seems to be the message of Pope Paul VI's Encyclical Nostra Aetate, although it was directed at non-Christian religions.
Now things seem to be going from bad to worse. The picture on the title page of the Vatican document on 'Women's Culture', whatever that might mean, seems to indicate that whoever made that choice, is in need of psychiatric help. If a document on 'Men’s Culture' is published, the mind boggles at what might appear on that title page! ?
Therese Layton, Harrow, Middlesex
To contradict part of your leader ("Christian Qualities are Blind to Gender", 31 January), some physical attributes are innately feminine and some innately masculine. Some mental attributes may be as well. However, since women and men are equal in the sight of God, they should, of course, be treated equally and we should try to be blind to gender.
Whether any role in the Church should be regarded as more prestigious than another is open to question: aren’t we all servants of the servants of God? Redressing inequalities needs to be done with sensitivity: for example, how to balance having altar girls with having altar boys without nudging the latter out of the role altogether? A better gender balance in the pews of the Catholic Church than he had seen elsewhere, was one thing that attracted my father to the Church in the first place, even though there were (and still are unfortunately) fewer men than women.
Andrew Doubt, Leicester
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