A decade ago controversy struck the nation when women were allowed to be ordained in the Church of England. Today The Venerable Dr Joy Tetley, Archdeacon of Worcester talks of how women priests have fared over the last decade.

TEN years ago, I was among the first group of women to be ordained priest in the Church of England.

When I was asked after the service how I felt, the only thing I could say (over and over again) was "Yes".

At last it was possible to serve God and the Church in the way I had felt called to do for many years. No longer was the way barred purely and simply because of my gender.

That 1994 turning point (for me and many others) did not come without a great deal of careful study and painful debate within the Church.

People held strong convictions on both sides of the argument. In the end, after much agonising, the decision was made to allow women to become priests.

Over the past 10 years, hundreds of women have had their vocations recognised in this way.

They are now serving as vicars and in various forms of specialist ministries, such as hospital, prison and educational chaplains.

Some hold positions of significant responsibility, like team rector and rural dean. Others are on the staff of cathedrals.

At the moment, five are archdeacons (3.6 per cent of the total) and two are cathedral deans (4.6 per cent. In these senior posts, women are still a very small minority.

And still, women are not allowed to become bishops. This is a matter currently being discussed in the Church of England and it remains a controversial issue.

Overwhelmingly, the ministry of women priests has been positively accepted and valued. For many, the actual experience of "real live" women priests has done away with any initial hesitations.

Though the idea might have been strange (as with the entry of women into other traditionally male occupations) the reality has turned out to be something good and helpful, rather than wrong and threatening.

In Worcester diocese, the priestly ministry of women has, for the most part, been warmly welcomed.

In all, there are about 50 of us actively ministering here - including one of the few women archdeacons!

For me, the presence of women as well as men in the priesthood makes visible the Christian belief that both genders are made in God's image and can therefore minister God's love and God's grace.

Females and males are equally loved by God. Both can stand for God and speak for God.

And both, in their frailty as well as their strength, can stand for humankind in God's presence.

For many, the coming of women priests in the Church of England is an entirely healthy and wholesome development, expressing the truth that it is women and men together who most effectively point to the mystery of what it is to be human, and to the mystery who is God.

Women (like men) bring a good many rich and varied gifts into priestly ministry - as well as their failings and foibles.

Each woman priest, like each human being, is her own unique mixture. It is unwise to stereotype. Nevertheless, many perceive that women often bring into the priesthood a particular emphasis on the relational and the empathetic - a deep connectedness between thought and feeling, mind and heart.

They tend to see beyond and behind the words. And in this day and age it should hardly need saying that women, just as much as men, can have the capacity to lead with wisdom and authority, seeking to encourage and draw out the potential in others.

Such leadership is very appropriate to the priestly ministry of the Church.

Of course, even after 10 years, not everybody can accept that the church was right to ordain women as priests.

Some believe it goes against the Bible's teaching that women should not have spiritual authority over men.

Others believe that only a man can represent Christ at the altar. For some, this development is a breaking with tradition which threatens the Church of England's relationship with the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches (though it should be noted that with other churches, such as the Methodists, the opposite is the case).

The challenge for the Church of England is to live with this difference in a way that witnesses to the Christian Gospel of love and reconciliation.

With mutual respect and understanding, difference need not be destructive. Quite the reverse. The world needs that message. The Church needs to live it out.

For me personally, the word "yes" still rings in my heart.

n See page 13 for a report on two Worcestershire women priests who were ordained 10 years ago.