|TOP|The Bishop of Exeter attended the recent spring retreat of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America where he urged the U.S. bishops to embrace the recommendations of the Windsor Report.

The call came from the Rt Rev Michael Langrish Wednesday when he offered an analysis of how the Episcopal Church is viewed in the wider Anglican Communion as part of a presentation that sources say received a standing ovation.

“Whatever the future holds, the many friendships made this week will, I am sure, go on,” Bishop Langrish was quoted as saying in The Living Church magazine.

“If we find ways of continuing and deepening our journey together the joy will be all the sweeter. And if, God forbid, that is not to be, then the tears will be more bitter and the sorrow so much deeper, too.”

|AD|Bishop Langrish is expected to attend a meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace next month to discuss the future of the Anglican Communion in light of the potential actions of the 75th General Convention.

The meeting is also to be attended by the Bishop of Durham, Tom Wright, who criticised ECUSA earlier in the month for continuing on its independent path.

In an interview with Australia’s World Today, Bishop Wright conceded the distinct possibility that the U.S. church would not be at the next Lambeth Conference.

“And we've never been in this position before, so there is no roadmap,” he said. “And if anyone out there listening to this ever says their prayers, please pray for Rowan Williams because he needs prayers right now. He's got some very difficult decisions to make.”

Bishop Wright went on to compare the strategy of ECUSA to the pursuit by the US government of “imperial sovereignty where we do what we want, we drop bombs on who we want and who cares”.

“And most of the American Anglicans are very cross with their own government for behaving like that. And then there's a danger that they're doing exactly the same ecclesially. That is a problem,” he said.