Archbishop of Canterbury Foresees 'Two-track' Church to Avoid Gay Schism
THE TELEGRAPH: Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has admitted the Anglican Communion may divide into a “two-track” church due to deep divisions over the ordination of homosexual clergy.

Dr Williams acknowledged for the first time that believers may have to accept "two styles of being Anglican" in order to avoid schism.

The decision by Episcopal bishops in the US earlier this month to press ahead with the ordination of homosexual priests and bishops – effectively overturning a ban on the practice – has pushed the 80 million-strong global church to the brink of an irrevocable split.

Traditionalists in the US and Canada have already formed a rival province to the Episcopal church to resist against the liberal tide.

Dr Williams appeared to accept that his efforts to preserve the unity of the communion had failed as he sketched a new Anglican structure that would allow local churches to loosen their ties with the main church body.

"This has been called a 'two-tier' model, or, more disparagingly, a first- and second-class structure. But perhaps we are faced rather with the possibility of the two-track model, two ways of witnessing to the Anglican heritage," he wrote.

"It helps to be clear about these possible futures, however much we think them less than ideal, and to speak about them not in apocalyptic terms of schism and excommunication but plainly as what they are – two styles of being Anglican." >>> Matthew Moore | Monday, July 27, 2009

Church Rallies Round Williams as African Bishops Boycott Lambeth
THE INDEPENDENT: An international coalition of bishops is rallying to the support of the Archbishop of Canterbury in a move that appears likely to ensure Anglican unity as the church enters one of its most crucial weeks since the Reformation. In all, 650 bishops from around the world are gathering at the University of Kent in Canterbury for this week's Lambeth Conference. Apocalyptic scenarios have been predicted, but it now appears that the broader Anglican family will hold together thanks to a series of sermons by Rowan Williams appealing for unity and the desire among bishops – including many from Africa – not to be seen to be the wreckers of the communion. Church Rallies Round Williams as African Bishops Boycott Lambeth >>> By James Macintyre, Religious Affairs Correspondent | July 19, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>

Church of England Set to Split over Women Bishops
THE TELEGRAPH: The Anglican Church is to press ahead with the introduction of women bishops without any compromise measures for opponents of the controversial move.

Hundreds of traditionalists, including several bishops, may leave the church after an epic four-hour debate ended with proposals to create new "men only" dioceses or "super bishops" narrowly thrown out by members of the General Synod in York.

It came despite the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the two most senior figures in the church, calling for safeguards to stop an exodus of Anglo-Catholics and evangelicals.

The church's drafting group is now likely to draw up legislation which will bring in women bishops, by 2014 at the earliest, with only an as yet unwritten national code of practice to cater for those who firmly believe the Bible teaches that bishops must be male, as Jesus and his apostles were. Church of England Set to Split over Women Bishops >>> By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent | July 7, 2008

BBC:
Christ Chose Men >>> | July 8, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>

Battling ‘Liberal’ Church Policies
BBC: Traditionalist Anglicans claiming to represent at least half of the membership of the worldwide communion, and more than a third of its bishops, have declared war on what they call the "false teaching" used to justify active homosexuality.

They have set up what amounts to a church within a church in order to organise for a long struggle against the ordination of gay clergy, the blessing of gay relationships, and what they claim is a drift towards accepting other religions as offering "equal access to God".

The Rev Rod Thomas, of the conservative Church of England group Reform, helped to formulate the organisation's strategy.

He claimed that traditionalists had been forced to create a new alliance to prevent the Bible being rewritten by liberal Anglicans to suit their current lifestyles.

"The Anglican Church is being destroyed by false teaching of the Bible on issues such as homosexuality", he said.

"We are gong to stand against this trend, and spread the true message of the Bible with confidence."

Traditionalists believe the Bible rules out active homosexuality, for example.

Road to schism?

They met in Jerusalem to bolster their claim that they were in touch with the authentic teaching of the early Church.

The group emphasises its intention of staying inside the Anglican Communion, but the alliance's mission statement appears to be a significant step towards eventual schism.

It is ready to send bishops anywhere in the world if traditionalist Anglicans call for help in countering liberal policies which in the view of the "Primates' Council" undermine strict biblical teaching.

The Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, said the "revisionist agenda which we've seen in the same-sex agenda is a missionary one and will spread its views as much as it can.

So the rest of us have to do missionary work to defend the gospel and to promulgate it." Battling ‘Liberal’ Church Policies >>> By Robert Pigott, Religious affairs correspondent, BBC News, Jerusalem | June 30, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (US) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (US) >>>
schism,

Church Tries to Avert Schism by Plan to Expel Rebel Provinces
TIMESONLINE: The Church of England took a step towards averting schism over gays yesterday when the General Synod backed a process that would allow the expulsion of rebel provinces from the Anglican Communion.

Some liberals in the established Church oppose the introduction of an Anglican “covenant” outlining a common doctrine that is to be endorsed across all 38 provinces worldwide, because they fear it will limit the traditional diversity that has become a hall-mark of Anglicanism.

But the Synod, meeting in York, voted overwhelmingly to “engage positively” in the creation of the covenant after a series of speakers warned that the dispute over homosexuality had exposed deep flaws in how Anglican unity is maintained. The covenant would prevent any province from consecrating an openly gay bishop, as the US did in 2003 with the election of Gene Robinson to New Hampshire, without risking expulsion.

But the Synod also heard that it would put in place a curial-type structure that would mean other doctrinal innovations would also be jeopardised. One speaker warned that the ordination of women would never have got through had such a covenant already been endorsed. Church takes a step back from schism with gay expulsion plan (more) By Ruth Gledhill

Mark Alexander

Episcopal Church Moves One Step Closer to Splitting the Anglican Communion over Gay Issue
THE GUARDIAN: The impending division of the worldwide Anglican communion came a step closer yesterday as the rift over the way the church deals with homosexuality descended into acrimony.

The US Episcopal church rejected the demands of the rest of the church, headed by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, that it should fall into line by refusing to conduct blessing services for gay couples or elect more gay bishops and allow disaffected conservative US congregations to have their own leadership. Anglican split comes closer as US church rejects demand over gays (more) By Stephen Bates

Mark Alexander

Archbishop of Canterbury Tries to Save Anglican Church from Schism Over Homosexuality

Photo of ‘Ol’ Father Time’ courtesy of Google Images

TIME: For his last official act before a three-month sabbatical, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams chose a joyous one. He ordained the Reverend Canon Humphrey Southern as a new bishop. The ceremony took place in London's St. Paul's Cathedral, and the crowd smiled to see Williams, the tousle-headed, professorial leader of the Church of England and titular head of its global offshoot, the Anglican Communion, reveling in his mellifluous baritone as he prayed, sang and performed the rite of ordination. "Will you strive for the visible unity of Christ's Church?" asked Williams. Answered Southern, "By the help of God, I will."

By the help of God, indeed. Almost from the day he took over in 2002, Williams, now 56, has been attempting to prevent a schism among the world's 79 million Anglicans. It has been a horrible task. Within months of his taking the job, a simmering debate on homosexuality exploded into a brutal battle, pitting some of the wealthiest and most liberal of the church's 38 provinces, notably those in North America, against a larger, more socially conservative group concentrated in Africa and Asia and known as the Global South. At the 1998 edition of the Communion's once-a-decade Lambeth Conference, the concluding language called homosexual practice "incompatible with Scripture." But in 2003 the Episcopal Church, the Anglican body in the U.S., made Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, bishop of New Hampshire. Unlike Roman Catholicism, the Communion lacks definitive doctrine to aid decisive solutions. Nor does it have a universal leader such as the Pope — the Archbishop makes no claims to infallibility and cannot dictate to his flock. The years since have featured a series of angry meetings, threats of secession, half-met demands and unmet deadlines. The next full-scale opportunity to negotiate — or fight on — will be at the Lambeth meeting in July 2008: that is, if Williams can keep all parties on board long enough to attend it. Saving Grace (more) By David Van Biema and Catherine Mayer

Mark Alexander