Sydney, Australia - OUTSPOKEN Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen is galvanising opposition to homosexuality in the church, in the lead-up to an unofficial meeting of conservative bishops in Jerusalem.
As rifts in the worldwide Anglican Church threaten to become a schism, the Sydney Archbishop said American Anglicans had become missionaries for homosexuality in defiance of the Bible and Anglican teaching.
The Global Anglican Future Conference is provocatively timed just before the 10-yearly meeting of all the world's bishops at Lambeth in London. That meeting must resolve the sexuality crisis or worldwide Anglicans will probably divide into two separate churches.
Dr Jensen denied the Jerusalem meeting in June was an "alternative Lambeth", but liberals are sceptical. Leading Australian liberal Muriel Porter said the conference could hijack Lambeth because conservatives would come seeking to impose a predetermined outcome.
Meanwhile, the Bishop of Jerusalem said he had not been consulted, and urged the organisers to abandon the move, saying it could inflame tensions in the region. Bishop Suheil Dawani said: "I am deeply troubled that this meeting, of which we had no prior knowledge, will import inter-Anglican conflict into our diocese.
"It could also have serious consequences for our ongoing ministry of reconciliation in this divided land. We who minister here know only too well what happens when two sides cease talking to each other. We do not want to see any further dividing walls," he said.
Dr Jensen, the main Western leader of the conservative evangelical strand, said he hoped to meet Bishop Dawani in Jerusalem next week. Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola, the other main conservative Anglican leader, will be there too.
Earlier, in a statement, Dr Jensen said: "Some American Anglicans are as committed to their new sexual ethics as to the Gospel itself, and they intend to act as missionaries for this faith, wishing to persuade the rest of us." He said the rest of the Anglican world must be vigilant to guard the teaching of Scripture. "The problems posed by the American church are not going to remain in America."
Dr Jensen told The Age the worldwide church had irreversibly changed. Since the Americans defied the world's bishops in 1998 and the Bible by endorsing same-sex unions and consecrating a gay bishop, Lambeth had lost its authority, he said.
The 1998 Lambeth conference endorsed the traditional view that sexual relationships are reserved for marriage between a man and a woman. But in 2003 a Canadian diocese approved same-sex unions, and Gene Robinson, a priest in a gay relationship, was consecrated bishop of New Hampshire in the US.
Many conservative bishops have said they will not attend Lambeth this year because the US bishops — apart from Bishop Robinson — have been invited.
Dr Jensen has not yet decided whether Sydney's six bishops will attend Lambeth. The argument in favour, he said, was that there was still a possibility for unity, and conservatives should be there to add their voice.
The argument against was that Lambeth had lost its authority and the worldwide Anglican Church was devolving as the British Empire devolved into the Commonwealth.
Anglicans and gays
AUSTRALIA Officially, sex is for heterosexual married couples, so no gay clergy or gay unions. In practice: don't ask, don't tell.
CANADA Probably the most liberal Anglican church, endorsing same-sex unions.
ENGLAND Rather like Australia, but it has been more of an issue inside the church.
NIGERIA Along with most of the global south churches, it strongly opposes homosexuality.
UNITED STATES Rather like Canada — ordained gay bishop, but more divided.