Madam, – For many years I have put two simple questions to opponents of women’s ordination and have rarely received a coherent, let alone a convincing, answer: (1) What is it in the nature of a woman that is supposed to make it impossible for her to receive the grace of orders – is it physical, mental, spiritual, or what? A precise answer, please. (2) Assume that a person comes to you showing all the signs of what you would take to be an authentic vocation if she happened to be a man. How, on the basis of this evidence, can you determine that her vocation cannot possibly be from God? – Yours, etc,