The Archbishop of York, David Hope, last night reignited the row over the ordination of women priests in the Church of England by suggesting that if women were allowed to become bishops the church would have to consider setting up a separate, third province for members who disagreed with the move.
Dr Hope's suggestion of what opponents see as a church-within-a-church was revealed at a service in Leeds to celebrate not the 10th anniversary of women's ordination, which fell last month, but the anniversary of the appointment of the first two bishops to minister to British congregations that would not accept women priests.
The so-called third province - which many senior members of the Church of England believe would be disastrous for its unity - would establish a separate structure, probably led by a third archbishop, with its own hierarchy, to tend to the handful of parishes that have decided they cannot tolerate female ministry.
Provision for those churches was made in 1994 by an act of synod establishing episcopal visitors, known as "flying bishops", to administer specifically to them, though that was done within the traditional structure of the church.
Dr Hope's remarks were made at a service for the first two bishops for these churches: John Gaisford, the retired suffragan bishop of Beverley, Yorkshire, and the Right Rev Martyn Jarrett, suffragan bishop of Burnley, Lancashire.
Supporters of women's ordination are demanding the abolition of the synod act, claiming that it is discriminatory and that it perpetuates institutional prejudice in the church against women. Some women claim they have encountered unpleasant male behaviour and even assault, while the church has bent over backwards to accommodate the demands of those objecting to women's ordination.
But the archbishop claimed it would be a "tragedy" if the act were rescinded. "It would be an act of betrayal and trigger a new crisis for our church," he said.
Dr Hope, the church's second most senior cleric, has always opposed women's ordination, like some others from the high, Anglo-Catholic wing, though he has ordained women as deacons, the first step towards priesthood.
His senior, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, backs women's ordination.
The Archbishop of York told the congregation at St Bartholomew's Church, Armley, Leeds, that the church should have decided about whether it would eventually accept women bishops from the outset and said it would have to consider establishing "an altogether more distanced" third province.
He said: "The question needs to be asked whether the act can continue to bear the weight of ...extended episcopal care. Plainly it could not. Any such arrangements in response to the ordination of women to the episcopacy must surely be at least alternative rather than merely extended."
A working party led by the Right Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester, has been making slow progress in considering whether women may eventually become bishops, and its recommendations are unlikely to arrive at the church's general synod before the end of this year.
One suggestion is that, even when women are consecrated to the episcopacy, they might still not be allowed eligible sta tus for becoming archbishops.
Aware that the behaviour of some male priests towards their women colleagues has been criticised, Dr Hope added: "It must surely be very clear that however strong one's feelings and views may be, there can be no place for discourtesy, aggression and even abuse."