And an excellent post this morning by "Wilf" at Thinking Anglicans:
"What none of the press reports seem to acknowledge is that there is significant accommodation of those opposed to the ordination of women as priests and bishops. They have a statutory right to ask for male only ministry, which they will then get. For many of us that is a pretty big concession.
What has happened is that the legislation commended by the Synod has framed concessions for objectors in this way (the ability to decline ministry) rather than by setting up alternative structures or introducing the ability to claim that women priests are lawful but invalid. This is consistent with the approach of the 1992 measure (i.e. resolutions A and B).
If press journalists are reading this - please stop saying that there is no accommodation for those opposed in the legislation.
And if the ABC is reading this - please say something positive about the wonderful contribution of women priests over the last 16 years and deacons over the last 23. This sort of morale-boosting affirmation would be very well received by a group of priests who have to spend a great deal of time being told that they're a problem."
Quite true. It's not as though those opposed to women bishops for reasons of conscience walk away empty-handed. The moaning of the objectors distracts us all, including the press, from the accommodations for them that are included in the legislation.
And wouldn't it be lovely if the ABC praised and thanked the women who have served the Church of England and its people for a good many years?
UPDATE: Ann Fontaine at The Lead posts on the years-long process still to come before the Church of England ordains its first woman bishop.