Traditionalists will clash with campaigners over the issue of women bishops at the General Synod of the Church of England.

The Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, will present a report on the options open to the Church of England's ruling body on how it might proceed with the consecration of women bishops.

Members of the Church's ruling body were told at the start of the five-day meeting at the University of York that the outcome of the debates scheduled on women bishops would inevitably cause "hurt" to some in the Synod.

The Rev Prebendary Kay Garlick, chairman of the General Synod business committee, urged members to present a "model" of how Christians can disagree.

The General Synod has already backed the principle of ordaining women bishops but faces a decision about how to accommodate traditionalists who feel they cannot accept a woman bishop as a matter of conscience.

More than 1,000 clergy have signed a letter threatening to leave the Church if they are not given the legal right to opt out of having a woman bishop.

They have said they want to see clergy and parishes who object to women bishops given the right to join another "non-geographical" diocese overseen by a male bishop.

But senior women in the Church such as Canon Lucy Winkett, precentor of St Paul's Cathedral, have countered that they would rather wait than see "discriminatory laws" passed to protect objectors.

The debate is to be followed by a House of Bishops motion on Monday asking Synod members to back a national code of practice to accommodate those who object.

The first female clergy in the Church of England were ordained in 1994.

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