HOWZAT

“The broader issues are about truth and honesty. That is how we try to lead our lives. We expect the Church to lead on that if nothing else.” She says that the one good side of the row is that the debate on the issue of gay clergy has been properly joined.

Shield says that young and old are united in their support for Dr John. “You would think there would be fuddy-duddies. However, people instinctively know what is right and if a man is right for a post.”

Some of the older members of the congregation, such as Richard Child, 60, an English teacher, take the view that “a man’s private life is his private life”.

He says that he believes that homosexual sex is wrong, but that Dr John “had given that up and I would have liked to have seen him become Bishop”.

The Church needs to face facts, he says. “Many vicars are gay. As long as they do not mince about the place I don’t care. The majority of the Church of England believes that gay bishops should just mix in.”

One elderly woman adds: “We are all outraged. He is a lovely man. It has been an awful week for the Church of England.”

DAMIAN WHITWORTH

The church at the heart of the opposition

“WE ARE GOING to start with a shout,” Phil Andrew, the curate of Greyfriars Church in Reading, tells us. “You’re going to lose your inhibitions.”

First, he instructs, one side of the congregation will shout “WHAT DO WE WANT?”, then their friends across the central aisle will return with a bellow of “TO PRAISE THE LORD.”

When we’ve mastered this, which doesn’t take long, we progress to “WHEN DO WE WANT IT?”, followed inevitably by “NOW”.

“Then let’s do it,” the curate says.