Not that he is gay. I could name quite a number of gay bishops and innumerable gay priests. They have long enriched the Church.

The trouble with Jeffrey John (letters, June 20, etc) is that he is honest enough to say that he is faithful to a gay partner with whom, in the past, he has had a sexual relationship. And he will argue, as our Archbishop and many others have legitimately argued, that current Church of England policy is not theologically sound.

So Dr John is rejected in part for opinions that are widely shared, but mainly on account of his past sexual history. By that standard, if all present bishops and priests who have at some time in the past had a sexual relationship with someone — male or female — to whom they were not married, came clean and were similarly rejected, I wager that not more than two in ten would survive.

What price integrity? It’s high time we in the Church got real.

Yours sincerely,
PAUL OESTREICHER,
97 Furze Croft,
Furze Hill, Brighton BN3 1PE.
June 20.

From the Reverend Dr Karl Ayad

Sir, That a quarter of the diocesan bishops of the Church of England, including the fifth most senior among them, openly objected to the appointment of Dr Jeffrey John as the new Bishop of Reading because of his gay history and past criticism of orthodox teaching (report, June 17) is distressing, not because of the debate within the Church, which is healthy, but because of the way the Bishop of Oxford went about it. This represents a new and serious development.

Before women were ordained we had a wide debate within the Church and the General Synod approved it. We did the same with the remarriage of divorcees in church. If a bishop breaks rank with his fellow bishops and ignores the General Synod, anarchy will prevail.

The liberals within the Church have so far failed to make a convincing case for ordaining gay clergy, let alone gay bishops. This sort of confrontation will damage the episcopate and the General Synod, which is the voice of the wider membership of the Church of England. If the Bishop of Oxford cannot see the implications of his action, I hope and pray that Canon John will do so and decline his appointment.

Your faithfully,
KARL AYAD,
2 Stanley House, 46 Stanley Road,
Hoylake, Wirral CH47 1HY.
June 19.

From Mr Steve Turner

Sir, In your report today you say of Dr Rowan Williams and Dr Jeffrey John: “Both are concerned to sustain church unity but are not prepared to sacrifice their own integrity in the face of demands from extremists.”

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