The archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, sent a lengthy letter to the members of his warring Anglican Communion on Friday, saying that both sides had violated the Communion\u2019s boundaries and put the church in crisis.<\/p>\n
He criticized the American branch, the Episcopal Church, for departing from the Communion\u2019s consensus on Scripture by ordaining an openly gay bishop and blessing same-sex unions, \u201cin the name of the church.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
But the archbishop faulted conservative prelates in Africa, Asia and Latin America for annexing American parishes and an entire California diocese that have recently left the Episcopal Church, and for ordaining conservative Americans as bishops and priests.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere can be no doubt that these ordinations have not been encouraged or legitimized by the Communion over all,\u201d\u009d the archbishop wrote, contradicting those conservatives who said they were acting with his approval.<\/p>\n
Of all the new moves, he wrote: \u201cOn the ground, it creates rivalry and confusion. It opens the door to complex and unedifying legal wrangles in civil courts.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
In many ways, the letter was an acknowledgment that the Anglican Communion\u2019s factions have fought to a standstill. A meeting of American bishops in New Orleans in September did not produce the clear reversal and apology that conservatives have demanded.<\/p>\n
In response to that meeting, leaders of the international provinces came to no consensus, he wrote.<\/p>\n