Cleric's women bishops unity plea

The bishop said love those on both sides of the argument

A Church of England bishop has called for courtesy and unity in his flock in the debate over whether to ordain women as bishops.

Bishop Nicholas Reade was making the plea at an Anglican leaders meeting in Blackpool on Saturday.

"We must love those on both sides of the argument," said the bishop, one of five members of a group studying the issue for the Church of England.

The church's General Synod is due to debate the move in July.

"If the General Synod does decide to bring forward legislation permitting women to be consecrated as bishops, I hope that debate and discussion within the Blackburn Diocese and in the Church of England at large will be conducted with the same degree of courtesy as we saw in the Guildford Group and in the February Synod," the bishop said.

"I ask, too, that we do not forget that learning to live with differences and tensions in some areas of our Church life is, whether we like it or not, part of our vocation as Anglicans."