The Rev Rachel Weir, chairwoman of Watch, said tonight:
"This is a tragic day for the Church of England after so many years of debate and after all our attempts at compromise."
That's as maybe, but it is because of the years of compromise that we still insist on penis episcopii.
If the 1992 measure which embodied discrimination against women ( "allowing" them to be priests but not bishops) had been defeated, a new measure, that did not discriminate, would have been passed within a decade and Rowan's successor might well have been a woman.
Jesus didn't compromise and it's about bloody time the Church of England stopped doing so. The victorious opponents of today's measure learnt that lesson a long time ago.
