The Lambeth Conference, a once-a-decade summit of the world's Anglican bishops starting this week, will be a tense, closely watched family reunion.
Nearly one-quarter of the bishops -- theological conservatives mostly from Africa -- are boycotting the event. The 650 or so bishops who are participating are a mix of traditionalists and liberals with widely divergent ideas on how to save the splintering Anglican Communion.
Overseeing the roiling get-together is Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Anglican spiritual leader. As the ''first among equals,'' he has no authority to force a compromise. Still, the outcome of the 20-day meeting is being viewed as a test of his leadership.
''In my view, the split has already taken place,'' said David Steinmetz, an expert in Christian history at Duke Divinity School in Durham, N.C. ''The interesting question -- still unanswered -- is how wide and deep will it grow?''
The 77 million-member communion is a fellowship of churches that trace their roots to the missionary work of the Church of England.
The communion is the third-largest group of churches in the world, behind Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians, and is struggling with the same issues facing many denominations: How should Christians interpret what the Bible says about homosexuality, salvation and other issues?
Pope Benedict XVI, en route last Saturday to World Youth Day in Australia, told reporters: ''I am praying so that there are no more schisms and fractures'' among Anglicans.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, the top Vatican official on Christian unity, is among clergy from other churches attending the conference. Anglicans split from Rome more than four centuries ago when English King Henry VIII bolted in 1534 after he was refused a marriage annulment. The two groups have been trying to rebuild ties _ an effort complicated by the Church of England's move last week to accept women bishops.
The Lambeth Conference, which holds opening worship Sunday at Canterbury Cathedral, is the first since the 2003 consecration of the only openly gay Episcopal bishop, Reverend V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The Episcopal Church is the Anglican body in the U.S.
For theological conservatives, Robinson's elevation was the final straw in the long-running debate over Scripture. They have been threatening to break away ever since.
Last month, a group of traditionalists from Africa, Australia and other countries formed a new network within the communion that challenges Williams' authority, but stops short of schism.
Williams barred Robinson and a few other problematic bishops from Lambeth to ensure maximum participation in the meeting. Yet, the boycotters objected that Williams included bishops who consecrated Robinson and who accept same-sex relationships in their dioceses.
Robinson, meanwhile, will be in Canterbury anyway, on the outskirts of the event, to be what he called a ''constant and friendly'' reminder of gay and lesbian Anglicans. Episcopal bishops who were outraged that Robinson wasn't invited had considered staying away from Lambeth as well, but Robinson urged them to attend.
Mark D. Chapman, lecturer in systematic theology at Ripon College Cuddesdon, called Robinson's exclusion ''a piece of unavoidable Realpolitik.''
''The archbishop of Canterbury has an almost impossible job,'' Chapman said. ''Had Robinson been invited, there would have been such an outcry among conservatives that even moderate bishops from more conservative churches would not have been able to attend.''
Williams has designed the program to move the topic off Robinson and toward repairing the frayed relationships among bishops. They will spend their days in small group Bible study and discussions on evangelism and the humanitarian work of Anglicans worldwide. Sexuality is a topic on only one day of the summit.
No resolutions will be adopted as they were at Lambeth a decade ago, when bishops voted that gay relationships were incompatible with Scripture. Instead, the conference will issue ''reflections'' by the meeting's end on August 3.
Conservatives have condemned the Lambeth program as an attempt to paper over differences by failing to tackle them head-on. Some traditionalists attending Lambeth will likely try to change the conference agenda.
No one expects a definitive resolution of Anglican troubles by the end of the summit.
But trends within the communion will inevitably force Anglicans to make a clear decision about the direction of their fellowship.
Next year, the 2.2 million–member Episcopal Church will hold its national policy making meeting, called General Convention, where delegates could overturn a resolution that urged U.S. dioceses not to elect any more bishops in same-sex relationships.
The move is likely to have the support of other liberal leaning Anglicans, in Canada and Western Europe. But the largest and fastest-growing churches in the fellowship are in Africa and other parts of the developing world, where strict interpretation of Scripture dominates. (Rachel Zoll, AP)
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