EXACTLY ten years after the Church of England voted to allow women to become priests - "Vicars in knickers" as the Sun perhaps unforgettably put it - a large congregation gathered in Ripon Cathedral to celebrate emancipation.

Among them were 23 (or so) ordained women. "I just looked around and realised what we would have missed if the vote had gone the other way," said the Rt Rev John Packer, Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, and that was memorable, too.

Some might once have been termed spiky-haired feminists; others were less fearsome but every bit as joyful. A peroxide priest wore dog collar and fake leopardskin coat.

"You don't often see that," someone observed, laconically.

It was a celebration of difference and of wholeness, said the Bishop, and though Sunday evening's congregation included a slight majority of women, the imbalance may hardly be deemed surprising. There cannot be a mainstream church in England - we eagerly await correction - where men enjoy weight of numbers.

More remarkably, many women had opposed equal rites for their own - a stance most vehemently portrayed by the column's old mum who railed mightily against any possibility of a woman conducting her funeral service and died with her last wishes observed.

Almost 500 stipendiary priests resigned in protest at the vote on November 11, 1992, claiming £15m in compensation, though 64 returned to the fold. The total number of departures, since many claimed no recompense, is thought to have been higher.

Now there are around 2,000 licensed women priests, 17 per cent of the total but 47 per cent of the unpaid clergy. Forty six per cent of ordinands - trainee clergy - are also female.

Ripon and Leeds has 37 women priests - 32 per cent of the total and third in the equal ops league - of whom 19 are vicars, rectors or of similar incumbent status.

"The Church of England could not now operate effectively without them," claimed a recent Church Times leader.

Ripon and Leeds, stretching southwards from the Tees, is reckoned in the "Premier League" of enlightened dioceses. Five - appropriately including Sodor and Man - are in discrimination's "Hall of Shame".

The 1992 vote, and the necessary two-thirds majority across a broad church, was close, nonetheless.

Ruth Wigram, now in charge of three rural churches near Richmond, had been a minister since 1984 but had hitherto been denied the priesthood. On the day of the vote, friends gathered at her house in Sheffield.

"We were prepared for the worst but in our hearts hoping for the best," she recalled.

"As soon as it was announced, the telephone rang and never stopped ringing. There must have been about 40 calls and everyone just wanting to share their happiness. It was a truly tremendous day.

"I think women find it easier to be themselves as priests, rather than to have to assume a role. Being a priest gives you more confidence in your own ministry."

The service began by choreographed candlelight, full of imagery of darkness and light. It was led by Canon Sue Whitehouse, Vicar of Aysgarth in Wensleydale and accompanied by the Cathedral's girls choir, splendid in their tabards.

The lady of this house recalls writing the story, 20-odd years ago, when girls were first admitted to Ripon's choir. There were ructions about that, as well.

Though such twinkling occasions are usually impressive, the column is nonetheless uncomfortable with them - though not nearly so uncomfortable as the chap next along who almost sat on his candle.

With so great a risk of setting light to the order of service, if not to the cathedral itself, it was a relief both that the fire brigade had chosen to work that night and that the darkness was eventually overcome by electric light.

The opening prayers had references to the darkness of waiting, winds of change, new dreams and hopes and the prison walls of selfishness.

The gospel reading was from the fourteenth chapter of Luke, the bit about the humble being exalted and (of course) the other way around - a theme employed in the Bishop's sermon.

He dedicated the service to Joan Turner, a former colleague and parish worker who had died two years before the cataclysmic vote with her dreams of priesthood unfulfilled.

"I just want to apologise on behalf of the Church of England and to rejoice that her vocation is fulfilled in heaven," said Bishop Packer.

Change had been slow, but real. Women, said the Bishop afterwards, brought new sensitivities to the church - "I just feel our ministry is much more rounded."

The next big debate, some would say the next big row, will concern women bishops. "We swiftly need to explore what, if any, arguments there can be for not having them," said the Bishop.

"It wouldn't take very long if the church weren't determined to prevaricate for as long as we possibly can."

The Church of England has five female archdeacons and one Dean - broadly the next rung down - all in the south.

Afterwards there were balloons and party poppers, wine and cake and canapes. It had been an unashamed and an exultant celebration - ladies' night at the Cathedral, knickers in a twist no longer.

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