Actually it is hard to see how there could be an \u201d\u02dcorderly separation\u2019 between traditionalists and liberals because in many cases the fault-lines do not lie between provinces but within them. In America attempts are to be made in September to depose traditionalist bishops while court battles rage over church property. There is nothing orderly about this.<\/p>\n
It is also hard to see how Anglicans can be said to have \u201d\u02dcreaffirmed their mutual bonds\u2019 when bishops at Gafcon committed themselves to setting up a \u201d\u02dcprovince of North America\u2019 as an alternative to the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada.<\/p>\n
Rowan Williams is pinning his hope on the Covenant and on a \u201d\u02dcPastoral Forum\u2019 made up of members representative of the breadth of the Communion and able to travel and offer, in the words of the Windsor Continuation Group, \u201d\u02dcpastoral advice and guidelines in conflicted, confused and fragile situations\u2019. There is no guarantee that either the Covenant or the Pastoral Forum will prove acceptable to the Communion. There are questions about whether Parliament would give its approval to the Church of England entering the Covenant if this were seen as narrowing the broad national and popular base of the church.<\/p>\n
As the Archbishop of Canterbury told the final Lambeth press conference, winning support for the Covenant among the 44 national and regional churches of the Communion could take up to 2013. That date coincides with the call by some bishops at Lambeth for another gathering in five years\u2019 time. If Williams intends to see the matter through to some kind of resolution, he may be residing in Lambeth Palace for some years to come. Fortunately he is only 58.<\/p>\n
In the meantime it remains essential to keep the moratoria on the ordination of gay and lesbian priests and the blessing of same-sex unions in place. It is difficult to see this happening if traditionalist bishops from elsewhere in the Communion continue to take parishes and dioceses in the US under their wing or ordain bishops for North America.<\/p>\n