The rise of online services has prompted a rethink of how the Church of England pays for its 42 cathedrals and 16,000 churches -- of which 12,500 are listed by Historic England -- with dioceses under pressure to merge their functions in education, theological training and administration to save money, said The Times.

"The crisis is going to lead to a massive shrinkage in the number of cathedrals, dioceses and parish churches," said a source familiar with his thinking.

Bishop Gene Robinson's consecration will be seen as just the tip of the iceberg for new growth, predicted the love talking Presiding Bishop.

"For the moment we may have to content ourselves with fewer dioceses, less bishops, empty churches, less money flowing in and no next generation millennials coming forward, but we will definitely have more queers in the pulpit and episcopacy. That's a huge cultural win for us. I see a transsexual bishop in our future."

In a crisis when its flock requires rather more spiritual succour and sustenance than usual, not least because many members wish to grieve in the traditional way for the loss of loved ones, the Church of England has been shockingly absent. In the commercial jargon that the CofE has recently and dismally embraced, a huge gap in the market opened up and it has signally failed to fill it, said the editorial.

KWASHI: The war on terror seems to me to have multi-dimensional international interests. Firstly: the sophisticated chain supply of weapons available to the terrorists should concern the world community. Secondly: the number of troops recruited by the terrorists for them to be able to resist the nations of Chad, Cameroon, Mali and Nigeria, and to hold their grounds for up to ten years, cannot by any stretch of the imagination be a small venture of a band of terrorists.