Church Group Split Over Women Bishops
According to The Daily Telegraph, bishops within the Church remain divided over the issue, with the traditionalist contingency complaining that the plan does not go far enough to protect them.
The proposals are being drawn up by a working party of the House of Bishops in an attempt to prevent hundreds of traditionalists from walking out of the Church when women become bishops. One of the greatest changes, if the proposals are adopted, would be the agreement from the Archbishop of Canterbury to give up his role of consecrating women and delegate the task to another bishop. While Dr Rowan Williams would continue to preside at all consecrations in the South of England, it would be a symbolic rather than legal requirement. The move is hoped to appease traditionalists in the Church by freeing the Archbishop of Canterbury from personally consecrating women.
