"A woman bishop wouldn't be a bishop because a bishop is someone whose ministry is acceptable through the ages to all other bishops," said Burnham. "A Church of England with women bishops would no longer have a united episcopate. Bishops would no longer be what they say they are. I would have to leave."

He said he would be forced to quit if Anglicans did not make proper provision for opponents of women bishops, and indicated that he believed 800 priests would follow suit.

Until now leading opponents of women bishops have kept their counsel in the belief the church could provide a free (or third) "province" in addition to those of Canterbury and York.

It would have only male bishops, and its members could be drawn from anybody subject to the archbishops of Canterbury and York.

It has recently become clear that a majority of the House of Bishops would not support such a compromise. Traditionalists face the prospect of serving in the church alongside women bishops or leaving.

Geoffrey Kirk, national secretary of Forward in Faith, the main Anglo-Catholic group in the church, was as candid as Burnham. "One option is to become a Roman Catholic. I don't think there is any other option for me."

If the church does not provide a free province Kirk said he would have to make a stark choice. "It would be a choice between becoming a Roman Catholic or digging in in my parish and preparing for a period of litigation."

John Broadhurst, Bishop of Fulham, who has long been linked with plans to create an Anglican-style grouping within the Roman Catholic Church, forecast that the Church of England would face an exodus if the third province compromise were rejected.

"The introduction of women bishops without proper provision (for opponents) would be intolerable," he said. Asked if the Roman Catholic Church would be the destination of clergy and bishops if no provision were made, he said: "There certainly would be a very large haemorrhage."

Last week a group of bishops warned that proceeding with the plans would endanger the unity of the church.

A further sign of that disunity was evident last week when it emerged that Lord Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury, had angered Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, by agreeing to become patron of the campaign for the ordination of women in the Roman Catholic Church.

The cardinal wrote to Carey questioning the decision of the former leader of the Anglican communion to lend his name to a marginal group calling for reform in the Catholic church. Carey has since removed his name from a list of patrons backing the group's aims.

Additional reporting: Alex Delmar-Morgan

ADDITIONAL STORY WITH MORE DETAILS

Hundreds of clergy 'will leave church over women bishops'

By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent
THE TELEGRAPH

7/11/2005

Nearly a quarter of the Church of England's bishops, including several of its most senior, are likely to oppose moves to consecrate women as bishops at the General Synod in York today.

About nine of the Church's diocesan bishops, including the Bishops of London, Winchester and Durham, are thought to harbour strong doubts about the reform.

Traditionalists raised the stakes yesterday by warning that up to 800 clergy, including a number of bishops, could quit if women are consecrated.

In an historic vote, the Synod will decide whether the Church should begin the process of "removing the legal obstacles for the ordination of women to the episcopate".

If the Synod agrees, a House of Bishops' working party will start drawing up proposals to allow the reform to be implemented with the least damage to the Church.

The traditionalist wing does not have the numbers to halt the proposed reform at today's vote, but they intend to demonstrate their strength.

They are threatening a mass exodus if the Church refuses to grant them a Third Province, a parallel Church with male-only clergy led by its own Archbishop and bishops.

A number of bishops oppose the reform in principle, and have been joined by others who feel the timing is not right because the issue is too divisive for a Church already rent by disputes.

Many liberals, however, are determined to thwart the traditionalists by forcing the reform through Synod with only minor concessions. They argue that it is a matter of justice that women, who have been ordained as priests for more than 10 years, should be able to become bishops on equal terms with their male counterparts.

The Bishop of Ebsfleet, the Rt Rev Andrew Burnham, a leading traditionalist who oversees parishes that have rejected women priests, told a Sunday newspaper that he would resign if women become bishops.

Bishop Burnham said that women could not be bishops, and that he would consider becoming a Roman Catholic if they were to be ordained. "A woman bishop wouldn't be a bishop because a bishop is someone whose ministry is acceptable through the ages to all other bishops," he said. "A Church of England with women bishops would no longer have a united episcopate."

The Synod yesterday gave its overwhelming support to a report that backed the work of clergy among other faiths, including Muslims.

The debate coincided with a rare joint statement delivered by five faith leaders at Lambeth Palace in London to demonstrate their unity after Thursday's bombs.

Led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, the group included Zaki Badawi, the Chair of the Council of Mosques and Imams, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, Sir Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi, and Dr David Coffey, the Free Church Moderator.

They condemned the "evil" attacks, offered prayers for the victims and their families and said: "It is vital, when many will be feeling anger, bewilderment and loss, to strengthen those things we hold in common and to resist all that seeks to drive us apart."

. Plans by the Church of England to popularise church weddings by scrapping the reading of the banns of marriage have collapsed.

The General Synod had agreed to abolish the 800-year-old tradition of reading the banns in church on three Sundays before a wedding as part of wide-ranging changes to marriage law.

But Synod members have been told that the plans will now not go ahead because parallel moves by the Government to overhaul civil marriages have stalled.

END