World Anglican Leaders Gather Ahead of Crunch Tanzania Summit

World leaders of the Anglican Communion have gathered in Tanzania for a crunch summit which commentators believe will most likely centre around the controversial issue of homosexuality in the Church.

|PIC1|The large majority of worldwide Anglicans are greatly opposed to the shifts that have been seen in the US Episcopal Church (ECUSA) which have backed and even accepted openly gay clergy members.

The highly charged debate has been becoming increasingly fierce over the past two years, to the extent where it now threatens to bring about a schism amongst the 38 national worldwide Anglican churches which make up the Anglican Communion.

A spokesman for the leader of the world's Anglicans said it looks like it may be a "difficult conference", according to the BBC.

The spiritual head of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams has said that he fears the Communion may split over the row, which was ignited very publicly by the appointment of openly gay US bishop, Gene Robinson, in 2003.

Dr Williams declared: "We have a difficult meeting ahead of us with many challenges and many decisions to make," as he arrived in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday.

The majority of Anglican primates have expressed their dismay at the recently-installed head of the American Episcopal Church (ECUSA), Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who has publicly backed homosexuality in the Church, and who is also attending the meeting.

Fighting for the traditionally accepted views of the Church are representatives from Africa, Asia and Latin America - known as the Global South - who make up the large majority of the conservative wing of the debate.

Early reports certainly have done nothing to calm rumours of an imminent schism, as representatives from the Global South have gathered in one hotel while liberal Anglican representatives have congregated in another.

At the end of 2006, two of the oldest and largest parishes in the ECUSA decided to break away from the leadership of Bishop Schori, as her views went in direct contrast to their and the Church's traditional beliefs.

The parishes instead have found solace in the Nigerian Church over the issue.

Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola, who leads 37 million Anglicans in Africa, almost 50 per cent of the total worldwide Anglican population, has exerted his increasing influence on the debate, and is one of the most outspoken members defending the stance against homosexuality within the Church.

Already over the past six months, proposals have emerged focused on finding a way to keep the Anglican Churches in 'Communion'. One such proposal has been to create a system of full membership of the Anglican Communion for traditionalists, and a reduced, associate membership for the liberal wing of the Communion. However, those proposals have been received with very mixed reactions.

It is thought that the ECUSA will be asked once again to fully repent for the decision to consecrate Bishop Gene Robinson in 2003 for violating Biblical Scriptures.

However, early indications are that the two sides of the debate will tread carefully in their approach to the meeting; Tanzanian Bishop Mdimi Mhogolo on Wednesday morning sidestepped the issue of gay clergy entirely when questioned about its implications to the meeting. He said: "Let the judgement be done by God, not by me."

The Anglican Summit in Tanzania will take place from 15-19 February 2007.