Gay bishops: Anglicans face split
Wednesday, June 28, 2006

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- The leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, has said the worldwide church may have to split to end a bitter row over the consecration of gay bishops.

In a move that analysts say will effectively exclude Americans from the global Anglican communion, Williams proposed churches should be asked to sign a formal covenant, allowing some to be fuller members of the communion than others.

"Those churches that were prepared to take this on as an expression of their responsibility to each other would limit their local freedoms for the sake of a wider witness: some might not be willing to do this," he said in a lengthy statement issued by his Lambeth Palace office on Tuesday. the rest