London, USA - Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Willliams is to hold crisis talks with US bishops to prevent a schism over homosexuality, his office said Wednesday.
Leaders of Anglicanism's US branch, the Episcopal Church, will be asked for guarantees that they will not allow the election of any more gay bishops or authorise blessings for same-sex couples.
Williams, who leads the 77-million-strong worldwide Anglican communion and is the highest-ranking cleric in the Church of England, will meet the bishops for behind-closed-doors talks Thursday and Friday in a New Orleans hotel.
An unnamed senior Anglican source was quoted by The Guardian as saying the meeting was a "watershed" moment that could define the future of the church.
Williams' spokesman Jonathan Jennings told AFP: "We are in uncharted waters and we have been since this all began in 2003."
The Anglican church has been divided since Gene Robinson, an openly gay priest, was elected as bishop of New Hampshire four years ago, outraging traditionalists, particularly in Africa.
It has since led to conservative US clergy being consecrated to African bishoprics to allow them to minister to traditionalists in the US church.
A summit of worldwide Anglican leaders who met in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in February agreed that the Episcopal Church unequivocally bars official prayers for gay couples and the consecration of more gay bishops.
The Episcopal Church was given until September 30 to clarify its position or the primates said its relations with other Anglicans would remain "damaged at best".
Williams will head to Armenia, Syria and Lebanon following the US meeting.