Some Sundays, your head snaps suddenly clear and you wonder what you are doing spending so much time in an organisation that wilfully discriminates against women. You are there, after all, to worship a God in whom there is no male or female. Some few denominations have no restrictions on the offices open to their female members, but most Christians - unless they share the patriarchal bent - operate under some sort of compromise.

The Pope's desire to create a Catholic haven ...