The Lambeth Conference has for more than a century knitted together a disparate Church scattered across the world.
Rarely can the Anglican Communion have been in so much need of healing, and rarely can its once-a-decade summit of bishops in Canterbury have presented so little prospect of providing it.
The Communion has been in crisis since the liberal Episcopal Church in the United States ordained Gene Robinson – an openly gay priest – as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.
The rift in the Communion has grown steadily wider, and seems increasingly likely to be permanent.