For many people in the country, the great countdown was to the Olympic Games, the Secretary GenÂeral to the General Synod, William Fittall, said at a press briefing last Friday.
For many in the Church, however, an important countdown was to the final vote on women bishops at the General Synod, when it meets in York from 6 to 10 July.
“It is the first time in 20 years when the Church of England has to face so significant a two-thirds vote. Some will go away rejoicing, while others will be disappointed.”
The Church had long been trying to work out a position where there were not just winners and losers, Mr Fittall said, but a way forward that could deliver good news to as many people as possible.