Anglican fight: Can a woman bishop speak for God in England?

From USA Today-

Welcome to the echo chamber. If you tuned in to the fierce battle over gay bishops in the Episcopal Church -- whether it would fracture the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion and maybe the Communion as well -- you will certainly hear a familiar clashing sound if you pick up the latest New Yorker.

In the context of a massive look at the history, status and struggles of the Church of England (miniscule church attendance, immigration, rising fundamentalist and charismatic Protestantism), writer Jane Kramer examines its current fight over whether to ordain female bishops.

Things are slower over there. It took England nearly two decades longer - until 1994 -- to allow female priests in the Church of England. The Episcopal Church ordained women officially in 1976 (although 11 were "unofficially" brought to the pulpit in Philadelphia in 1974). While that the CofE's governing Synod will debate female bishops at its July meeting, the Episcopal Church already is led by one, presiding bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori.

The going is bitter. According to the piece, nearly a third of the CofE's working priests are female, a status that took the Synod 17 years of "wrenching" fights to permit and even now there are "flying bishops" who zip around England filling in at parishes that refuse to accept the faith from a female.

More here-

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2010/04/anglican-fight-can-a-woman-bishop-speak-for-god-in-england-/1