A Commenter Asks: Your Wisdom

From Mark Baker-Wright:

Scot, I recognize that this could go off-topic, so I throw it out here mostly as something to consider for later, and recognizing that you, yourself, are a member of a breakaway Anglican denomination in America.

My wife is an Episcopal priest. While I’m sure she’d object to the characterization of “cuckoo,” she would, at least, disagree with various stances taken by some within the denomination (I have to be careful here, since this is a public forum, and she would rather like to KEEP her job!). That said, a recurring concern for her, as a woman in such a profession, is the general lack of “safe places” for women who are called to ordained ministry. Many that allow women to be ordained are often accused of departure from important tenets of the faith elsewhere (we need not mention the obvious areas, but let’s acknowledge that there are several potential areas of dispute, and not just one).

For many of these women, breaking off to another denomination is a poor option, as even those that *allow* women to be ordained often don’t do so wholeheartedly (or, perhaps more properly, no longer do so after breaking off, because a disproportionate number of those who did might have been more conservative re: women’s ordination, too), and so women are forced to make a choice between staying in communion with those they disagree with, or not being allowed to serve at all (or, at best, facing prejudices they simply would not face in their current denomination).

What is your wisdom here? Stay and play or leave?