Forward in Faith, which represents traditionalist Anglo-Catholics in the Church of England, has written to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York warning them that many of its members could "defect" if women bishops were introduced without adequate safeguards. The letter was signed by 1,333 clergy, and the issue comes before the General Synod later this month. They want to be allowed one or more separate dioceses - headed, of course, by a male bishop -so that now or in the future they would not find themselves under the authority of a female bishop. Meanwhile a similarly sized group of female clergy has demanded the opposite, saying any arrangement that was discriminatory, such as a diocese or two reserved for male bishops, was unacceptable to them. They would prefer to leave things as they are rather than accept appointments as women bishops on those terms. The Church of England already allows clergy or parishes that reject female priesthood to resort to the episcopal ministry of a separate bishop, a so-called "flying bishop" who refuses to ordain women.

The theology of episcopacy that allowed flying bishops was never very clear, and the theological justification for separate dioceses even less so. In any event, given that the ministry of a priest is theologically derived from the ministry of a bishop, the decision to allow women priests but not women bishops in 1992 was already anomalous.

These are internal Anglican matters. But the implication of the unfortunate word "defect" in the Forward in Faith warning is that many of the signatories are threatening to become Catholics, as indeed some Anglican clergy did after 1992. Similar issues are raised. If they intend it as their future spiritual home, it is not particularly complimentary to the Catholic Church to treat it as a refugee camp, just over the ecclesiastical border as it were, for disgruntled Anglicans. The issue of female bishops may or ...

A new Government in Zimbabwe was the necessary but not sufficient condition for rescuing it from the appalling state into which Robert Mugabe has allowed it to sink. He has now blocked regime change by terrorising his opponents, the Movement for Democratic Change, into withdrawing from the rerun of the presidential election that it was probably about to win. So the economy remains in ruins and human-rights violations ...

A gathering of a family around the supper table is a moment when the bonds that are shared are reinforced, the love its members have for one another is enhanced and the very experience of coming together can strengthen them as they go out into the world. But it is also a place where old jealousies can resurface, where squabbling can break out and enmities occur. That, sadly, is also true of those called to the Lord's ...

The papal nuncio to Great Britain has let it be known he has begun consultations to find a successor to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor as Archbishop of Westminster. In that spirit The Tablet has been publishing a range of opinions from Catholics, lay and clerical, and today we complete the exercise with a list of the names, which - as far as it is possible to tell - the nuncio might be considering. It is necessarily ...

The most interesting American presidential primary contest in living memory has drawn to a close, with an outcome that 12 months ago would have seemed truly extraordinary. The young Illinois Senator Barack Obama, whose father was Kenyan and mother American, has pipped Hillary Clinton, former First Lady and clear favourite last year, to the finishing post, represented by winning a total of 2,118 or more committed delegates ...