Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Agree to differ over women bishops - Anglican leader


Church of England members who disagree on whether women bishops should be ordained must find a way to co-exist because neither group "will go away", the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said on Tuesday.

Some members may join another church, but many wanted to remain and the Anglican Church must find a way to accommodate them, he added.

Speaking at the General Synod meeting in London, the Church's spiritual head said traditionalists and liberals recognised they had to tackle the issue.

"We may have imperfect communion, but we unmistakeably want to find a way of holding on to what we have and 'intensifying' it," he said.

Anglicans in Canada, the United States and New Zealand already have women bishops.

One in six of England's parish priests is a woman and more than a decade after they were first ordained, liberals say it is insulting not to admit them to positions of power.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUKLNE51F03S20090216

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