The bishops were for it. The laity endorsed it too. But the rank-and-file clergy of the Church of England vehemently opposed the idea. So, as English Anglicans held their autumn General Synod in the white-domed Church House behind Westminster Abbey last week, a proposal to ordain women to the priesthood was defeated 272-246.
The vote came as a mild surprise. At the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury last August, a broad consensus of bishops of the Anglican communion from 25 nations joined those of the mother church in agreeing...