Plan for women bishops put on ice to avoid defections from Church of England

From the London Times-

Plans to consecrate women bishops in the Church of England have been delayed by at least four years in an attempt to avoid mass defections by opponents of women’s ordination.

Church legislators have backtracked on a decision made by the General Synod, the Church’s governing body, last year to consecrate women bishops with minimal concessions to opponents.

The Church will now be asked again to approve the plans for “super bishops”, which were rejected in July last year and which will create a new class of bishop, operating in traditionalist zones “untainted” by the spectre of women bishops.

But the revisions are expected to be strongly contested by supporters of women’s ordination.

When the debate on women bishops began, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, had indicated that he would like to see women bishops ordained by 2010. The legislation is unlikely now to go through before 2014 at the earliest.

The debate has aroused strong passions in the Church, with an unusually large number of worshippers writing to the revision committee of the synod to argue that a mere code of practice to protect traditionalists was not enough.

More here-

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6867459.ece