Church tries to quell dissent over female bishops with new role

Riazat Butt, religious affairs correspondent
The Guardian
Tuesday 30 December 2008

The Church of England has unveiled plans to create a new kind of clergy in an attempt to quell dissent over the ordination of female bishops, a historic change threatening its unity.

According to a series of official documents, published for the first time yesterday, the archbishops of Canterbury and York can nominate men as "complementary" bishops who will tend to parishes opposed to women's ministry. Such a bishop would perform functions in areas where the diocesan bishop is either a woman or a man who ordains women.

It is one of several steps designed to heal a rift over the ordination of women as bishops, a row that peaked last July during an emotional, sometimes angry, meeting of the General Synod, the Church of England's national assembly, while also removing the legal obstacles currently barring women from holding the office. the rest

Opt-out for parishioners opposed to women bishops