Archbishop addresses religious fissure
By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY

The Anglican Communion, torn by disputes over theology and church authority, must push for compromise or it would be "an admission of defeat," says Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, head of the world's third largest Christian denomination.

Williams spoke at a news conference Friday in New Orleans, following two days of meetings with 160 bishops of the Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of Anglicanism. The Episcopal Church ignited a firestorm within the Anglican Communion in 2003 when it ratified the election of an openly gay bishop. the rest