Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Report sets out roadmap for women bishops

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3833950.ece

[Times Online] 30 Apr 2008--A "church within a church" is proposed in a new report as a way of finding a home for the opponents of women priests and bishops in the Church of England.

A series of new dioceses that would transcend geographical boundaries and be havens for men and women opposed to female ordination is the radical proposal set out in the long-awaited report on how to proceed with the Church's desire to consecrate women bishops.

The report sets out a number of possible options and says that the General Synod must decide. But if the Church decides to opt for a structural solution, it makes clear that this would be the best way forward.

Critics claim the solution to how to consecrate women bishops without disenfranchising a substantial minority of opponents would leave the established Church resembling a "Gruyere cheese", with dioceses being left with large "holes" in them as parishes fled wholesale from the prospect of women bishops.

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