Women bishops: Church's General Synod delays vote

The General Synod voted by 288 votes to 144 to adjourn the debate, after protests from pro-women campaigners.

They object to an amendment to the draft law allowing parishes who do not accept women bishops to request a male bishop who shares their beliefs.

The new vote is likely to happen at a special Synod session in November.

The draft law was amended by the Synod's House of Bishops in May.

It already contained a provision for parishes who object to women bishops to request that they be placed under the care of a male bishop.

But the amendment went further, specifying that the stand-in bishop should exercise their ministry in accordance with the parish's opinions on the issue.

That caused uproar within the Church, as many who favour of women bishops said it embedded discrimination into the law. Read more

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There is a clear need for clause 5 (1) (c). Traditionalist Anglo-Catholics and conservative evangelicals need such a provision in the measure to which they can appeal in the event grace and generosity does not flourish and the male bishops and priests appointed are not in sympathy with the views of the parishes they look after. This is a very real possibility as the experience of the Episcopal Church with homosexual clergy has shown.