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The Church of England is proposing to tear up hundreds of years of tradition by establishing spiritual havens for opponents of women priests and bishops.

In a desperate attempt to stave off a schism over female ordination, church leaders have suggested the creation of new dioceses based on gender rather than geography.

The proposal – allowing some parishes to flee from the prospect of women bishops to male bishops hundreds of miles away – is one idea intended to preserve the unity of the Anglican Communion amid intense anger among millions of conservative church members.

But it risks antagonising liberals who believe that Anglicanism should not offer a compromise.

Critics said that the solution, which aims to allow for the consecration of women bishops without disenfranchising a substantial minority of opponents, would leave the established Church resembling a “Gruyère cheese”, with large holes left in dioceses.

The plans were published yesterday as church leaders braced themselves for bitter argument at this summer’s ten-yearly Lambeth Conference in Canterbury of the Anglican Communion’s bishops from around the world. Divisions in the Church between liberals and conservatives will be heightened today by comments by the Church’s first openly gay bishop in The Times. The Right Rev Gene Robinson is set to attend Lambeth after his “gay wedding”, against the wishes of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.

In his book, serialised in The Times today, Bishop Robinson, the Bishop of New Hampshire, condemned what he described as “destructive, adolescent bullying” over the consecration of women and gays.

Proposals to establish new dioceses were published yesterday by a group chaired by the Bishop of Manchester, the Right Rev Nigel McCulloch. The report demands that the majority, who support women’s ordination, accept that the “theological convictions of those unable to receive the ordained ministry of women are within the spectrum of Anglican teaching and tradition”. Those who hold them should therefore be able to receive pastoral and sacramental care “in a way that is consistent with their convictions”, it says.

The report gives warning that to consecrate women without safeguards for opponents “would trigger a period of uncertainty and turbulence within the Church of England”. Many priests and congregations would undoubtedly leave, it says. “The Church of England that emerged at the end of the process might possibly be more cohesive; it would undoubtedly be less theologically diverse.”

The report breaks new ground by addressing how women can become bishops rather than whether they should. Previous attempts have foundered because of the problem of how to go with the majority support for women bishops while preserving a space for opponents without appearing to be discriminating or half-hearted about women bishops.

The solution of extra-geographical dioceses is one of several proposed, but among the structural solutions it is the favoured option and would appear to be the least complex. However, questions would arise over which cathedrals served the new dioceses, or whether new ones were needed.

Even though about half of those now in training for the priesthood are women, the opposition to them within the Church has barely shrunk. Currently, opponents of women priests remain in their original dioceses and are cared for by traditionalist “flying bishops” but that would not be acceptable to them if their diocesan bishop was a woman. The report proposes ending that arrangement.

Bishop McCulloch said: “The central issue for the Church is the extent to which it wishes to accommodate the breadth of theological views that it currently encompasses in relation to women priests and bishops.”

Forward in Faith, the traditionalist group that had argued for a new, third province, said: “We are pleased that the report appears to have addressed most, if not all, of the issues we raised and that it seems . . . to include proposals which those unable to receive the ordination of women as bishops could in good conscience embrace.”

Lambeth and Rome

— In 1992 the General Synod voted to allow the ordination of women priests; the first 1,000 were ordained two years later

— Of the 470 male clergy who left the Church of England in protest, 58 returned. Many were accepted by Rome

— The synod voted in principle in 2005 to remove the legal barriers to women becoming bishops

— The Church has 7,109 full-time, paid male priests and 1,507 full-time, paid female priests. If unpaid and part-time clergy are included there are 8,785 men and 3,119 women

Sources: Church of England, religioustolerance.org