Anglican leaders, buffeted by a bitter row over gay bishops, put the finishing touches on Monday to a crucial report seeking to heal deep divisions in the church.
The ordination in the United States last year of openly gay bishop Gene Robinson has sharply divided the Anglican Church's 70 million faithful and sparked fears of a schism after 450 years of unity by consensus.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, facing the church's worst crisis since that prompted by the ordination of women priests, has set up a commission to confront the thorny issue.
It is headed by Irish Anglican leader Robin Eames, known in the church as the divine optimist for his positive approach but forced to speak out publicly after liberal and conservative clergy angrily locked horns.
After its first full meeting in February, the commission said it was "saddened that tensions within the Communion exacerbated by the use of strident language, have continued to rise."
On Monday, the commission began a week-long meeting in Windsor, southern England that will seek to come up with a solution to the crisis.
"This is a private meeting. Its purpose is to finalize the Lambeth Commission report and hopefully that will be published in mid-October," a spokesman for Eames told Reuters.
But the wounds may already be beyond healing in a broad church run by consensus across 164 countries, in contrast to the rigid hierarchy of the far larger Roman Catholic Church governed under strict papal authority.
The stakes could not be higher.
There has been media speculation that the Episcopalian Church in the United States may even face exclusion from the Anglican communion over Robinson's ordination.
Such a tough disciplinary measure would be a bitter blow to liberals in the church but hailed as a triumph by conservatives from Australia to Africa who thundered in rage over Robinson's ordination.
But religious commentator and journalist Clifford Longley doubted if there would be such a dramatic conclusion.
"There are an awful lot of battle cruisers skimming around and avoiding shooting at each other. No one wants a battle," he told Reuters.
"I think I put my money on it being a fudge. Temperamentally I do not think they are inclined to go for a fight. Never in the past has any of these commissions come to anything. They have never managed to apply sanctions."
Robinson's election followed a decision by Canadian Anglicans to sanction same-sex unions in direct contravention of church policy on sexuality.
That policy, agreed at the Lambeth Conference of 1998, clearly states that the Anglican communion cannot support "the legitimizing or blessing of same-sex unions or ordaining those involved in same-sex unions."