JOBS FOR THE BOYS?
Women who became priests
By Liz and Andrew Barr . Hodder& Stoughton. 262 pages. £7.99
ISBN 0340 78534 9
An effective cover design and title can instantly convey the contents of a book: and that is the case with Jobs for the Boys? The cover pictures a robed woman at an altar, lifting the cup. In 1992 the General Synod of the Church of England voted to admit women to the ordained priesthood.
This book interviews 12 women who have been ordained as priest since that momentous vote. Readers who believe Christ to be the great and final Priest who did away with the need for an earthly priesthood, or who object to the notion of kneeling at an altar to receive the 'host', or who reject a sacramental view of 'the Mass' as conveying divine grace will find aspects of this book problematic. This, it seems, is the key issue of women's ordination according to this book. It is not a matter of whether women should preach, but whether they can 'raise the host'.
