The archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual leader of the world's 79 million Anglicans, said on Friday that he would convene an extraordinary meeting of church leaders in London to avert a schism over the confirmation of a gay bishop in the Episcopal Church USA.
The Most Reverend Rowan Williams said the meeting would be in London in October. "I am clear that the anxieties caused by recent developments have reached the point where we will need to sit down and discuss their consequences," he said in a statement.
His office declined to elaborate on the precise agenda for the meeting, the call for which was immediately criticized by supporters and critics of gay priests, illuminating the broader, emotional debate threatening a church spread across 164 countries.
Every 10 years, the 38 primates -- as the Anglican leaders are called -- hold a summit meeting, and in recent years they have begun to meet annually. Still, this type of meeting to address an imminent crisis is considered extremely rare, said James Solheim, a spokesman for the Episcopal Church USA.
The appointment of the Reverend Canon Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire this week displayed the depth of the division between liberals generally tolerant of gay priests and conservatives, both in the US and in many parts of the developing world, particularly Africa, who object to the ordination of gays.
Liberal camp
Williams is regarded as close to the liberal camp but has sought to avert a split in the church just months after he took office. Last month he prevented Jeffrey John, a gay priest in Britain, from becoming a bishop. At that time, the Archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, threatened to secede from the Anglican Communion if John was named as Bishop of Reading. With 17 million followers, the Nigerian branch of the Anglican Church is one of the biggest.
The appointment of Robinson has forced Williams to confront a crisis that could see the Anglican Church dividing under his stewardship. He has urged his fellow primates, as the Anglican leaders are called, to show patience and caution.
In his statement on Friday, Williams said, "I hope that in our deliberations we will find there are ways forward in this situation which can preserve our respect for one another and for the bonds that unite us. I hope we can use the time between now and then to reflect, to pray, to consult and to take counsel."
The Anglican Church has 38 "provinces" around the world. Formal invitations to the gathering are expected to be sent out next week.
Initial reactions to the meeting seemed to illustrate the divisiveness of the issue.
The Reverend David Phillips, an opponent of the inclusion of gays in the priesthood, urged Anglicans to break with the Episcopalians in the U "and support and help those dioceses and churches in America which do not agree with what is going on."
"The archbishop is clearly tolerating something that the scriptures do not tolerate, and by doing that he is himself in error," Phillips said. "I hope there will now be a division in the worldwide church. That is the only way we can be clear that some of us do not accept this."
Among those threatening to sever links with American Episcopalians are the Kenyans. Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi, head of the Anglican Church of Kenya, issued a statement with all 29 of his bishops this week that calls Robinson's election "contrary to the clear teachings of the Scripture."
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