Sir, - As a delegate to the recent conference on RC women's ordination in Dublin, I was surprised to read Rosemary Swords's statement (Opinion, July 2nd) that one of her strongest objections to ordaining women is that it would perpetuate the traditional subservience of the laity. If such were the case, it is most unlikely that clerical bodies in Rome would have found this conference so disturbing as to visit retribution on several of the participants.
The prospect of ordained women offering inspiration and empowerment to the whole people of God from within is surely the source of the alarm which underlies the Vatican's continued efforts to uphold what are now discredited scriptural "proofs" (cited by Rosemary Swords) of men-only clericalism having been instituted by Christ. - Yours, etc.,
Olive Powell, Terenure, Dublin 6W.