Anglicans await key ruling on women bishops AFP

The Church of England faced a key vote Monday on whether to allow women bishops, with more than 1,000 clergy threatening to quit the Church if its General Synod goes ahead with the move.

A "yes" vote from the Church's ruling body could trigger an irrevocable schism in the worldwide Anglican Communion already embroiled in a divisive row over homosexuality.

Some 1,333 clergy have threatened to leave the Church of England if they are not given legal safeguards to set up a network of parishes that would remain under male leadership.

The General Synod is meeting in York, northern England, the second most important city in the Church after Canterbury.

Members will be asked to back a motion calling for a national code of practice to accommodate parishes which cannot accept women bishops.

John Packer, the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, also suggested the creation of three male "super-bishops" to cater for the spiritual needs of followers who do not want pastoral oversight from a woman.

Such a figure would be directly answerable to the archbishop of either Canterbury or York -- the Church of England's two most senior figures.

Packer's ideas come amid calls from a significant number of General Synod members for a delay in pressing ahead with legislation to introduce women bishops.

Colin Slee, Dean of Southwark Cathedral in London, said: "If they are asking for special treatment, which I think we can supply, then they don't need to ask for it to be written in law because that says that we are not trusted to behave decently."

The archbishops of Canterbury and York, the two most senior figures in the church, are understood to favour a compromise that would avoid an exodus of the most conservative wing, The Times newspapaper said.

 Anglicans await key ruling on women bishops AFP