The General Synod meets Monday in York. A group of about 1,300 priests, mostly from the Anglo-Catholic wing of the church, has threatened to leave if forced to submit to women bishops.

The group proposes instead that those who disagree be allowed to join a special diocese or province that would have only male priests and bishops, The Times of London reports. When the church allowed the ordination of women in 1992, "flying bishops" who opposed female priests cared for parishes that agreed with them.

But Bishop Nigel McCulloch of Manchester, who headed the panel that created the plan for female bishops, said the church must now take a clear stand on giving women an equal role.

"We remain perplexed over how to distinguish between good muddle and bad muddle," he said. "When does principled pragmatism and a generosity of spirit topple over into theological incoherence and the loss of any clear guiding principles?"

Both the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada already have female bishops. The Australian church recently consecrated two women.