Even Sir Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi, who has always maintained a slim, fit appearance, is determined to lose weight. "How can you change the world if you can't change your weight?" he said.

The Archbishop of Wales, the Most Rev Barry Morgan, is resolved to "get back into the dinner suit", as well as lower his golf handicap.

The storefront once housed one of Ross County's rowdiest, two-fisted drinking joints. Now it's the center of a quiet, though no less explosive, religious rebellion.

It's been that way since the Rev. Rick Terry decided enough was enough and shepherded most of his flock, about 60 people, two blocks north and around the corner from St. Paul's Episcopal Church to the coffeehouse on N. Paint Street.

Transferred Episcopal Arrangements (TEA) is the 'carrot' designed to appease traditionalists who threaten to drive a wedge through the Church if their needs are not adequately catered for. Under the proposals, jurisdiction will be transferred to the Metropolitan, with the 'episcopal ministry' being provided by a Provincial Episcopal Commissary (PEC) appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury or York.

However, The Daily Telegraph has learned that the bishops are divided, with liberals complaining that the proposals will demean women and institutionalise schism. The traditionalist bishops say the plan does not go far enough to protect their constituency.

A key premise of the proposals, though not spelt out in the draft plan, is that the Archbishop of Canterbury would have to agree to give up his role of consecrating women and delegate the task to another bishop.