|TOP|The Archbishop of Canterbury has issued a statement in which he greeted but refrained from congratulating the new female bishop elected Sunday night to become the first woman Presiding Bishop of the US Episcopal Church.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, took almost a day to offer his greetings to Bishop of Nevada Katharine Jefferts Schori as the next Presiding Bishop of the US Episcopal Church in a statement in which he refrained from extending his outright congratulations.

“I send my greetings to Bishop Katharine and she has my prayers and good wishes as she takes up a deeply demanding position at a critical time,” read the statement.

“She will bring many intellectual and pastoral gifts to her new work, and I am pleased to see the strength of her commitment to mission and to the Millennium Development Goals.”

“Her election will undoubtedly have an impact on the collegial life of the Anglican Primates; and it also brings into focus some continuing issues in several of our ecumenical dialogues,” said Dr Williams in his statement.

"We are continuing to pray for the General Convention of the Episcopal Church as it confronts a series of exceptionally difficult choices.”

|QUOTE|Bishop Schori’s election is a further sting for many conservatives in the Church who are suspicious of her liberal credentials on a number of issues, not least for her support of church rites for gay couples.

The Rev Geoffrey Kirk Secretary of Forward in Faith, a conservative group within the Church of England, said the election of Bishop Schori was deliberately at a time of crisis in the Anglican Communion.

He added: "Such an appointment can only exacerbate divisions and create further difficulties with our senior ecumenical partners."

The Bishop of Nevada’s election as the next Presiding Bishop has also met with a wide degree of support, however, including some unexpected support from Latin American bishops.

Bishop Chilton Knudsen of Maine, a woman, said: "It was a matter of time before the Holy Spirit would call one of us ... By virtue of the baptismal covenant, everyone must be available to any order of ministry."

Presiding Bishop Griswold also welcomed Bishop Schori, the Bishop of Nevada for just five years and ordained only a decade ago, on her election.

“I am profoundly grateful to the House of Bishops for the prayerful and careful way in which they set about to discern who would best serve the church as its 26th Presiding Bishop and carry forward Christ's ministry of reconciliation," he said.

Bishop Schori’s election as the successor to the Most Revd Frank Griswold has left the Anglican Communion teetering again as opponents to female bishops opted to reject her authority and ask instead for the Archbishop of Canterbury to lead them instead.

The traditionalist Fort Worth Diocese has already sent what is expected to be the first of numerous appeals to Dr Rowan Williams requesting “alternative primatial oversight”.

|AD|Speaking to The Times, Bishop Jack Iker, of Fort Worth, said: “We would like to be accountable to a bishop of the orthodox faith who shares our theology and perspective.”

The request from Fort Worth Diocese is the first formal step towards a schism in the Anglican Communion, already in chaos since the ordination of the openly gay Bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson, in 2003.

One well-placed conservative source told The Times, “We are in uncharted waters. The Church is descending into anarchy”.

Responding to the comments of the Bishop of Rochester on a likely split in the Anglican Communion, Rev Jeremy Caddick, Emmanual College, Cambridge, said: "If it is the case that some sections of the Church cannot accept a female bishop, then I think the Bishop of Rochester is right, the time has come for a split.

"It certainly worries me, but I think it is maybe necessary.

Earlier Monday Dr Rowan Williams spoke to Bishop Schori by telephone to assure her of prayers as she prepares to take up her post.