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Dr Rowan Williams's call for restraint over American move to include gay clergy ignored
Trying to keep too many people happy?
Archbishop of Canterbury: No gay bishops
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has said at the general synod in York that he regrets the US Episcopal church's decision to ignore a ban on ordaining gay bishops. His comments follow a vote on Sunday in Anaheim, California, where the church is meeting for its triennial gathering.
The vote, to adopt a resolution declaring the ordination process "open to all individuals" was won in the house of deputies, one of two legislative bodies. It now remains for the resolution to be passed by the house of bishops this week. To add to Williams's problems, who travelled to Anaheim last week to call for restraint over homosexual clergy, the convention will also debate the blessing of same-sex unions and the introduction of gender-neutral liturgies.
Williams has struggled to keep the Anglican communion together after last year's disagreement turned to insurrection with the establishment of an international network of conservatives and the boycott of hundreds of bishops from the Anglican conference. In the US, some Episcopalians have left their mother church and set up a rival with its own archbishop, while in the UK last week, more than a thousand Church of England representatives unhappy with its unclear position on homosexual priests, same-sex unions and the ordination of women priests, supported the launch of a fellowship for congregations and clergy.
