Anglican websites and news media in England are reporting that secret talks were held in York, England over the weekend by "a handful of Pope Benedict XVI's most trusted advisers" and senior Anglican bishops who refused to include the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the meeting was "an historic union to topple the controversial Anglican push to admit gay unions and the ordination of women bishops.": "The Anglicans have been bitching about homosexuality ever since the United States arm decided to appoint Gene Robinson as the first openly gay bishop and allowed services ...

The Church of England's governing body faces a bruising battle over consecrating women bishops that could spark a mass exit from the Anglican Church by disgruntled traditionalists. The issue of the "stained-glass ceiling" stopping women rising up the church ladder ranks with the ordination of gay clergy as one of the most disruptive in the Anglican Church. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, already battling to avoid a schism over conservative anger at the consecration of an openly gay U.S. bishop, faces a delicate balancing act at the latest general synod of the Church of England, which starts on Friday. ...

A divisive row over homosexuality and women bishops has left the worldwide Anglican Communion facing one of its worst ever crises, to the point where there is talk of an irrevocable schism. "The crisis is unprecedented since the Reformation devastated the Roman Catholic Church in England in the 16th century," The Times said Tuesday in a front-page article on a threat by 1,300 clergy to quit over women bishops. And on Sunday after a conference in Jerusalem, some 300 conservative bishops and archbishops announced the creation of a new grouping that does not recognise the authority of Anglican leader ...

Virulent homophobe and Nigerian Anglican leader Peter Akinola addressed the Global Anglican Future Conference in Jerusalem and used his speech to “denounce” Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion whom Akinola claims is too lenient on the gays. [This Day] ...

For a century the Lambeth Conference has been one of the events keeping intact this largest Protestant church grouping in the world. Now, for the first time, and just when the Anglican Communion is most at risk of disintegration, almost a third of the bishops invited to attend have decided to boycott the meeting. It is a blow to the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams who wants to use the conference to heal the rift over sexuality which has driven the Communion to the brink of a permanent split. The 250 bishops who have said they will stay ...