A TIP OF THE BIRETTA

By Fr. Wilson ( articles ) | Dec 21, 2003

A most willing tip of the biretta to Joanna Jepson. She is a female priest of the Church of England -- which in and of itself, frankly, doesn't ordinarily elicit even a ruffling of my biretta pompon -- but she seems to be a thoroughly Good Thing and a lady of great integrity.

Ms Jepson has been pursuing through the English legal system the prosecution of those responsible for the abortion of a child who was diagnosed as having a cleft palate. The abortion took place after the stage when the child would have been viable outside the womb and therefore, despite the reluctance of the authorities to pursue the matter, was against English law.

Ms Jepson had herself suffered from a cleft palate, a condition easily corrected by surgery.

A most willing tip of the biretta, pompon and all, to the Rev'd Joanna Jepson, a great lady who understands the meaning of this Season, and that the Mystery of the Incarnation has turned the world upside-down and impels us ever since to see all things, but especially the Gift of a baby, in its light. And thanks for a reflection from which I shall shamelessly pilfer as I preach three times today.

"All preachers are thieves," Luther said. And in that he was indisputably right. .