The US-based Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) has criticised the first female head of the US Episcopal Church, as it warned that her many liberal comments on the Anglican faith have not helped to heal a "rapidly splintering church".

Katharine Jefferts Schori, former Bishop of Nevada, was invested as Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church in the US at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington DC last Saturday. She began her nine-year term on 1 November.

Her election as the new Presiding Bishop has sparked controversy not only within the US church but also within the wider Anglican Communion and her investiture comes at a time of great uncertainty for the US church as seven conservative dioceses have now sought oversight from a sympathetic bishop abroad.

IRD President Jim Tonkowich warned that Bishop Schori's investiture may only "exacerbate tensions already existing in the Anglican Communion," which is "still deeply wounded" as a result of the consecration of an openly gay bishop and approval of same-sex blessings as a local option subject to the approval of the diocesan bishop.

"As Bishop of a small diocese that failed to show any substantial growth in attendance, despite being located in the fastest growing state in the Nation, it is unclear how Schori is prepared to address the same problems taking place in the wider Episcopal Church from her new national office," he warned.