LONDON (AP) - The Church of England on Monday appointed a bishop Monday to head a working group to examine the contentious issue of allowing women to serve as bishops.
The Church of England began ordaining women as priests in 1994, but it has not followed the lead of Anglican churches in the United States, Canada and New Zealand in allowing women to be bishops.
Michael Nazir-Ali, the bishop of Rochester, a city 25 miles east of London, was named to head the panel.
``Some people have said that, because the Church of England now ordains women to the priesthood, it is only natural that they should also be appointed bishops,'' he said. ``My view is that we are now at the start of a process, rather than reaching the end of one.''
Five of his 10 colleagues on the panel are women. The panel is to make an interim report to the church's governing General Synod in 2002.