Hardline archbishops gather on eve of summit

London Telegraph ^ | 14 October 2003 | Jonathan Petre

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Hardline archbishops gather on eve of summit

By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent (Filed: 14/10/2003)

Conservative primates will today intensify their pressure on the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, by meeting to plot a hardline strategy on the eve of the Lambeth Palace summit on homosexuality.

Dr Rowan Williams More than half of the worldwide Church's 38 primates and a large group of traditionalist American bishops are planning to gather at All Souls, Langham Place, an evangelical church in London.

They will make clear that they will reject any attempt by Dr Williams to delay disciplining the liberal American Episcopal Church for appointing Anglicanism's first openly active homosexual bishop.

Sources said the conservatives are determined to force the issue at the two-day emergency primates' meeting starting at Lambeth Palace tomorrow. They appear to be prepared to walk out of the Anglican Communion and establish their own Church.

Dr Williams is hoping, however, to persuade a majority to postpone any major decisions until they have had time for further reflection.

Dr William's advisers will be further angered by today's meeting because they argue that it breaches the normal protocol for primates, the world's leading bishops and archbishops, who do not usually act in so political a way.

One said that the Archbishop had called this emergency summit precisely to avoid groups of primates holding their own meetings and deciding the future of the Anglican Communion before consulting all their colleagues.

The conservative primates, who are likely to number about 20, will be led by the outspoken Archbishop Peter Akinola, the Primate of Nigeria.

Another key figure will be Archbishop Drexel Gomez, the Primate of the West Indies.

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