Do they think that given these circumstances, the Church still has the option of muddling on along the lines of the Me Inc. with its petty human concerns such as gender issues, or, worse, ecclesial blessing of wayward sexual inclinations? Do they really believe that since Sept. 11, 2001 -- or July 7, 2005 for the Brits - they can afford to further fissure the Body of Christ?

This is not the time to drive away those faithful Anglo-Catholics who for solid theological reasons consider the whole idea of women priests and bishops an ontological absurdity. Nor is this the time to cut bridges to eventual unity with the Roman Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, or those confessional Lutherans whose understanding of the Real Presence of Christ in the elements of the Eucharist - but certainly not gender arrogance - reserves the priesthood for men.

Let Christ Himself resolve this "problem" without which His Church fared exceedingly well for the first 1,900 years of its existence, and pray that He returns swiftly. In the meantime, we have more important things to do: bring the godless people of the northern hemisphere back to Him, evangelize urgently and intelligently among Muslims, especially among their genuinely oppressed women, and point them to the true God who does not send his goons out to commit random acts of murder, but suffers instead for his first creation.

This and this alone should have been discussed during the General Synod in York when it became clear that the suicide bombers had struck London. This is a matter of life and death, both physical and spiritual, for all of us. Women bishops are not - not now, perhaps never.

END