LONDON, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- An epic clash destined to shape the future for the 77-million-member Anglican Communion began in an ancient palace in London Wednesday among the church's worldwide leaders over the vexed issue of ordaining homosexual bishops and priests.
The emergency two-day meeting was ordered by the church's head, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who summoned the 38 Anglican primates to deal with the deepest crisis to face the Church in 500 years - a crisis that could yet tear the worldwide church apart.
The threat of schism erupted in the fury of the Anglican Church's conservative evangelicals, led by its African, Asian and Caribbean archbishops, over the ratification by U.S. Anglicans of an openly gay cleric, divorced father-of-two Canon Gene Robinson, as bishop of New Hampshire.
The crisis conference at London's 12th century Lambeth Palace is the archbishop of Canterbury's bid to quell the anger. But the rebellious conservatives were demanding that the 2.3-million-strong U.S. Episcopal Church either cancels the Robinson appointment or be kicked out of the Anglican Communion.
"It is no exaggeration to say this is crunch time," said a source at Church House, the Church of England's headquarters in London. "This meeting could see the end of worldwide Anglicanism."
The issue facing the 37 primates - the 38th, Archbishop of the Philippines Ignacio Capuyan Soliba, cried off, saying he had "a previous commitment" - was a simple one: the liberals contend that homosexuals are valued by God, whereas the evangelicals insist that same-sex relationships are expressly forbidden by the Bible.
As the conference began with what turned out to be a marathon, 12-hour talkfest behind closed doors, observers were pessimistic as to whether this religious Gordian Knot could be unraveled. "What those in there are praying for," said British religion expert Laurence Spicer, "is a very unlikely miracle."
The 37 leaders of the Anglican provinces around the world were poised for what shaped up as a fierce debate, a prospect only sharpened by the numerical division. According to sources close to the Church, 20 of the primates oppose the election of Gene Robinson to the New Hampshire bishopric, while 17 indicate they accept it.
As the first day's session neared its close, one church source said somewhat bitterly, "At least they are still talking to each other."
Somewhat more optimistic was Archbishop for Ireland, Robin Eames, who told journalists during a break that he was willing to "hazard a guess" that the summit appeared to be headed toward a "consensus situation."
But he was unwilling to elaborate on what form that "consensus" might take, saying only that it would not become obvious until after Thursday crucial, final day of talks and debate.
The archbishop of Canterbury, who has described the immediate outlook for the church's future as "messy," was less forthcoming. A spokesman for Rowan Williams, the Rev. Jonathan Jennings, would say only that "it is so far, so good" and that his boss was "quite relaxed."
Although he is the Church's royally appointed operating head, Archbishop Williams in fact has little power to force a solution to what has become one of the most serious crises to face it since the Church of England's formation in the 16th century.
Further complicated Williams's position is his own liberal credentials, which include his admission that he once ordained a homosexual priest. His views on homosexuality have earned him sharp criticism from the Church's evangelicals, who suspect him of seeking to promote gay clergy to try to alter church policy by stealth.
Williams maintains his sympathy to the homosexual lobby, but he has also told the other primates that he intends to stand by the church's 1998 Lambeth Conference bishops' resolution, which recognized that there were people homosexually oriented but rejected the practice of homosexuality as "incompatible with Scripture."
Observers on the sidelines of the summit have suggested that the primates have three options in dealing with the issue of gay bishops and priests in general and Gene Robinson in particular: They could reprimand the U.S. Episcopal Church or they could suspend it, are two possibilities.
A third is to create what are described as "parallel jurisdictions" that would permit the church's various provinces to strike out on individual paths - within limits - but still remaining under the umbrella of the global Anglican Communion. However, this idea is thought to hold little appeal for the Lambeth delegates.
"I suspect," Williams said earlier, "that those who speak of new alignments and new patterns, of the weakening of territorial jurisdiction and the like, are seeing the situation pretty accurately."
But barring some sort of agreement at the end of the crisis meeting Thursday, what also remains a possibility is that the church might actually split, with conservative branches such as those in Africa going in one direction and the more liberally inclined such as those in the United States and Canada heading off in another.
The Irish archbishop, Robin Eames, said he remained "optimistic that the Anglican Communion will emerge from this stronger than it ever has been." But he added, somewhat cryptically, "I would also like to predict there will be greater honesty than we have had up to now."
Confronting liberals such as Rowan Williams and moderates such as Robin Eames in the war of words at Lambeth Palace are a number of hard-line conservatives who show no inclination to give in or even to compromise.
The leader of this wing is the primate of Nigeria, tough-spoken Peter Akinola, who describes homosexuality as "an abomination" that is clearly outlawed by the Bible - and whose views are given considerable credence among the evangelicals in Africa and elsewhere.
The man at center of this religious storm, however, is Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, whatever his authority, or lack of it, to resolve this crisis. "It is his biggest challenge," said Church Times editor Paul Handley. "He has got to pull something out of the bag."
