CLIMBING to the top in the Church of England has been a hostile battle for Vivienne Faull, who is tipped to become Britain's first woman bishop.

Hate mail and pornographic letters and a stalker have so far tried to hinder the career of the most senior woman priest in the country, who hails from

South Wirral and whose father Rev Bill Faull is the chaplain at the Hospice of the Good Shepherd in Backford, Chester.

A Church of England working party led by the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, is looking how to introduce women bishops without causing a split in the Church and his report his due next year.

But the plan has come up against a great deal of opposition from high-ranking officials.

The Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, the most senior traditionalist in the

Church, says he will resign if women are allowed to wear a mitre.

He says resignation would be the only 'logical conclusion' of his doubts about the validity of women priests and could never take part in the consecration of women saying: 'I just couldn't stay in those circumstances.'

This uncompromising stance, which threatens the fragile unity of the Church, will infuriate pro-women campaigners, who are preparing to push the issue to the top of the agenda.

But such opposition does not faze Vivienne Faull, Provost of Leicester Cathedral, who has faced criticism throughout her journey to the top.

She believes the feelings of cynics are now changing, although there are a number of people who are opposed the idea of female bishops.

'I think there has been a huge amount of support,' she says.

'Senior members of the clergy have thought long and hard about this.

Those who weren't sure have now mostly decided it's at least acceptable, but there are certainly people I have robust debates with.'

Mrs Faull, 46, hoped to become a solicitor after achieving a second class degree in history from St Hilda's, Oxford.

She admits the time completing her finals was a moment of great anxiety and she became anorexic in her last term.

'It was in response to my finals at Oxford,' she explains.

'I stopped eating and I knew that was a warning sign. It went away when the stress went away.'

Now Mrs Faull copes with the pressure of holding down her job in Leicester very well.

She already works a 70-hour week and enjoys 'running' her Cathedral but is still not sure whether she is ready for the top job, which could be some five or eight years away.

At the moment she considers herself a 'media darling' and hopes someone else will come along to share her spotlight.

'The media like to pick on one particular person but I hope others will come along,' she says.

'I have been in the job at Leicester for 18 months. A whole new generation is coming through with more experience and qualifications.'

But if Mrs Faull does get the job, she will have to put up with constant publicity and cranks who believe there is no role for women in the Church.

Last month she told The Daily Telegraph: 'I have had hate mail, obsessive behaviour, the lot.'

When she was working as a chaplain in Gloucester Cathedral in the early 90s, she attracted the attention of an 84-year-old stalker.

In her interview with the Telegraph she said: 'The poor fellow could not move fast enough to chase me.

'He was a widower and very lonely. He was never threatening, just persistent. He followed me for a year ­ and even tracked me down when I was in hospital and came to the ward. I didn't go to the police then, but I would if it happened again.'

She adds: 'There are people who may not always wish us well because of mental illness. We need to be much wiser.'

Although there are already women bishops in the Anglican provinces of the United States, Canada and New Zealand, Mrs Faull tries to concentrate on the job in hand rather than working out what her future in the Church will be.

Earlier this year she managed to make a change without making enemies by appointing a chaplain to young people.

'We have appointed somebody to work with people aged between 14 and 25. They are the missing generation,' she said.

'We have years of Christian tradition which could offer them something. We have resources in the Church in terms of prayer and spiritual life. But it's making the link.'

'We need a young chaplain to find out what we can do.'