London, England - The bishops of the US Episcopal church were meeting in private yesterday to elect a new leader, conscious that their choice could determine whether they remain within the 77-million-strong worldwide Anglican communion.
They did so fortunately oblivious that a second Church of England bishop had intervened in their decision-making process by accusing their 2.3-million-strong church of setting up a second religion by supporting gay clergy.
The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the conservative evangelical Bishop of Rochester, told the Daily Telegraph: "Nobody wants a split but if you think you have virtually two religions in a single church something has got to give sometime ... a fudge won't do."
The remark was extraordinary since all Christians are members of one religion. It would have surprised representatives of the Episcopal church attending the Sunday morning communion service at the convention yesterday to learn that an English bishop believed they were not really Christians. Anglicans cherish their autonomy and Americans, in particular, resent being lectured by outsiders.
The remarks of Bishop Nazir-Ali, passed over for Archbishop of Canterbury and then Archbishop of York, followed a demand by Dr Tom Wright, the Bishop of Durham, last week that the Americans should show greater contrition for endorsing the election of Anglicanism's first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson, at their last convention three years ago.
In an echo of the conclaves of cardinals that elect the Pope, the 200 or so bishops were sequestered in a downtown church in Columbus, Ohio, near the conference centre where the Episcopalians are holding their general convention, until their ballots produced a majority for one of seven candidates. Five of the seven standing to become presiding bishop - the Episcopalians do not have archbishops but the function is more or less the same - endorsed Bishop Robinson's election in 2003 and the other two, who did not, are still not regarded as sufficiently theologically sound by church conservatives. One of the seven, Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori, of Nevada, is a qualified oceanographer and pilot but this is likely to count against her less in many parts of the world, including the Church of England, than the fact that she is a woman. The CofE is still wrestling over whether women clergy should be allowed to become bishops and many other Anglican churches across the world do not allow women to be ordained at all.
By arcane processes, which have now gone on for five days, a special committee is attempting to produce a form of words that would be sufficient to express regret for annoying the rest of the communion.
The latest yesterday suggested that the Episcopalians regretted "breaching the proper restraints of the bonds of affection and the consequences which followed". But this is far from certain to be passed before the convention ends on Wednesday.
In an indicator of the possible mood of the meeting, more than 1,000 people crowded into the same downtown church to hear Bishop Robinson preach on Friday. The bishop broke down twice as he pleaded with gay people to love their opponents: "Love them anyway, no matter what is said this week or next.
"No matter what resolution is passed or not. No matter how long. We already have God's love. All we have to do is love in return."
By comparison, Bishop Nazir-Ali, preaching nearby at the same time, drew a congregation estimated by the local Columbus Dispatch newspaper at just 80.