Another debate will stress the benefits brought by another easily-overlooked resource - the almost 2, 000 whole or part-time hospital chaplains provided by the Church.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Synod tackles women bishop debate

Making his case, the Anglican archbishop argued that schools now emphasised students' spiritual dimensions, and said hospital chaplains' work addressed spiritual issues, as well as the physical and mental.

BBC: Archbishop calls for NHS bill to cover spiritual health

As things stand, it says, many gay clergy prefer to work as hospital chaplains, where their employer is the impeccably correct National Health Service, rather than in dioceses where they could be under the thumb of old-fashioned bishops.

ECONOMIST: A calling, but also an entitlement