From Mr Frank Field MP
Sir, - Your correspondent Paul Sandham (Letters, 31
October) conflates two reports. In an earlier debate than the
one he refers to, I observed how the Holy Spirit speaks to us. Is
it simply as in the Old Testament, through burning bushes and the
like, or in other ways? In the debate after the Crown Nominations
Commission appointed Justin Welby as Archbishop, I commented that,
if one excluded half the human race from the talent pool, it was
not surprising that the last person to join the bishops' club was
the successful candidate; i.e. wasn't this a sign of our folly in
excluding women from the most senior positions in the Church?
That the Commission made the right choice in the circumstances
has been manifold illustrated in the Archbishop's command of
events. But it doesn't detract from the point that I was making:
that the Commission should have been in a position to choose from
all the talent available, and not just that among males.
FRANK FIELD
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA
