Remarried British Olympic heroine snubs woman priest at wedding.

Tessy Sanderson

Olympic star Tessa Sanderson has reopened the debate over female priests by refusing to allow a woman to conduct her wedding at St Paul’s Cathedral in London

Her marriage last month to fellow Olympic competitor Densign White was a glamorous affair, with photographs of the couple’s big day spread across three pages of Hello! magazine.

They showed a smiling Miss Sanderson posing in front of the cathedral in her white dress and tiara, cutting a four-tiered wedding cake, and dancing with some of her 250 guests, including Olympic decathlete Daley Thompson.

The 54-year-old javelin thrower was also photographed with three of her nine bridesmaids, including former Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes, the current 400 metres Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu and former swimming star Sharron Davies.

Guests have revealed, however, that there was a last-minute hitch over which priest would conduct the service at St Paul’s, where Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer married in 1981.
Although the Rev Andrew Hammond was due to marry the couple, he was unable to get to the service after becoming stranded in Asia during the volcanic ash cloud crisis.
Cathedral staff told the pair they had found a female priest to replace Mr Hammond but were surprised when Miss Sanderson, the first British black woman to win an Olympic gold, turned down their offer.

Densign White

The marriage was eventually conducted on May 1 by the cathedral’s Canon Pastor, the Rt Rev Michael Colclough, a former Bishop of Kensington.

Miss Sanderson, who competed in five Olympic Games, is understood to come from
a traditional Christian background and describes herself as a regular churchgoer.
She said last night: ‘It wasn’t because I disagree with woman priests. It was just that I had been working all that time with a male priest.

‘If I had been working with a lady from the start, that would have been OK. But we wanted to carry on with what we had been working with.’

Canon David Houlding, a prominent opponent of women clergy in the Church of England, said: ‘This shows there are a lot of people who still don’t feel comfortable with women clergy.

The issue of women priests is not just about equality. It is also a matter of theology, of what we think a priest is.’

But a pro-women campaigner said: ‘It is quite disturbing that a role model like Tessa, who would have experienced prejudice in her own life, would object to having her wedding service taken by another woman. It is extremely disappointing.
Although women have been able to become priests since 1994, the issue remains controversial. About 460 clergy have quit in protest and nearly 1,000 parishes still bar women ministers.

Miss Sanderson recently told a newspaper how she had faced prejudice in her own life, saying she had been spat on and called a ‘golliwog’ as a child.

Miss Sanderson, who runs an academy in North London for young athletes, has the right to marry at St Paul’s because she was awarded a CBE in 2004. She told Hello!: ‘Dens and I had talked about it and I said, “It’s such a tremendous honour, so let’s exercise our right and do it.” It was so worth it. We had the most magical day and the setting made it all the more perfect.’

Source:The Mail

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