A secondary division chipping away at the Anglicans involves the consecration of women bishops. This is more of a problem for the English “mothership” (known as the Church of England), which has signaled that it will press ahead with legislation to introduce women bishops, despite the objections of hundreds of clergymen.
“This is something that is troubling the Church of England, though it’s less of a fight in the wider Anglican communion,” says Giles Fraser, a London vicar, who notes that about 20 women bishops will attend Lambeth. “The issue of homosexuality by comparison is a bare-knuckle brawl.”
Few analysts expect an Anglican reconciliation anytime soon. “The church is already fragmented,” says Mr. Hobson. “The Evangelicals don’t really believe in the authority of a liberal archbishop and leadership. It’s hard to see how it could reunite.”
Mr. Fraser adds that the only way of keeping the Anglicans together “is to have a greater degree of subsidiarity so that each province is able to make theological decisions for [itself].”