A Crucial Moment for Anglicans

Last month, about 280 conservative bishops from Africa, Asia and North America met in Jerusalem and pledged to sideline Williams and the Episcopal Church by creating a powerful new council of archbishops and a new province in the United States. About 200 of the bishops, mainly from Africa, are boycotting Lambeth, saying they won't meet with their liberal colleagues.

But this year's Lambeth Conference has been designed to discourage resolutions that would discipline the United States and Canada. Small group discussions and a "mind of the communion" document at the conference's conclusion Aug. 3 will replace plenary sessions and parliamentary debate.

The Rev. John Peterson, former general secretary of the Anglican Communion, who helped plan the 1998 Lambeth Conference, said a conference without resolutions "has been the desire of every archbishop of Canterbury, ever."

But that desire has rarely been fulfilled, Peterson said.

Liberal and moderate Episcopal bishops have their own game plans for Lambeth.

San Francisco Bishop Marc Andrus said part of his mission began last week when he explained to fellow bishops gathered at a church in Wales why he supports gay rights. Amid anti-gay hostility and the spread of AIDS, gay men and lesbians "have found the Episcopal Church is one place where they're welcome," Andrus said in a telephone interview.

Gay advocacy groups, such as Integrity USA, will attend "fringe events" on the conference's outskirts. Andrus said that "bishops like myself will be inviting and urging fellow bishops to hear their story."

Bishop John Bryson Chane of Washington said Anglicans should focus on global missions, including the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, which aim to cut poverty, disease and hunger significantly by 2015.

Episcopal bishops will also seek help to stop overseas archbishops from adopting Episcopal parishes. Dozens of conservative U.S. churches -- and the entire diocese of San Joaquin, Calif. -- have seceded from the Episcopal Church to join more like-minded Anglican provinces.