A woman priest in Durham has questioned why women should stay in an "abusive institution" over plans to limit the rights of female bishops.
Speaking to ITV Tyne Tees, The Rev Dr Miranda Threlfall-Holmes says she now thinks her online blog comments were "probably counterproductive" and has since removed it from the site. She says it was not her intention to offend anyone but does hope it will create debate.
The Reverend George Curry of St Paul’s and St Stephen’s Churches in Newcastle gives his reaction to The Reverend Miranda Threlfall-Holmes' comments that compare senior Church of England figures to wife beaters.
The comments have since been removed from the online blog.
A woman priest in Durham has compared senior Church of England figures to wife beaters.
The Rev Miranda Threlfall-Holmes is critical of plans to limit the rights of women to become bishops. In her blog entitled "The Battered Bride of Christ", she questioned why women should stay in the church.
– Rev Miranda Threlfall-Holmes"Do we stay, hoping it will get better? Do we stay, because we feel called by God to be in this marriage? Do we stay, thinking we can continue to try to change it from the inside?
"Or do we flee to the nearest refuge (let's ignore the fact for now that they rarely exist) - leaving home, family, community, and our dreams behind?"
In another passage, she compares bishops to a man who gouged his wife's eyes out and then kept her in the house for 12 hours to stop her getting medical attention.
The post has now been removed from her blog.
Proposals to create women bishops have been controversial. The Church's General Synod is expected to vote on proposals in July.
But at a closed meeting of its House of Bishops, an amendment was added that refused to accept the authority of a woman to opt out and have an alternative bishop.