Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to Target Pro-Gay Bishops

To say that I am disappointed with Rowan Williams' spineless leadership of the Anglican Communion is an understatement. His pitiful leadership and fear of standing up to anti-gay bishops is one factor that has kept me from possibly returning to the Episcopal Church. I have never been one to sacrifice doing what is right for what is convenient or that which will engender a false sense of unity. Better to stand alone than go over the cliff with the rest of the lemmings.

In my view, if Williams needs to target anyone, it should be anti-gay bigots like Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria who has been actively interfering with the workings of other national churches within the Communion. Sadly, I suspect he will act as a modern day Neville Chamberlain in the face of modern day fascists like Akinola who I view as anything but a man of God or true follower of Christ. Here are highlights from the Daily Telegraph's coverage (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/19/nclergy119.xml):

The Archbishop of Canterbury is preparing to target individual bishops whose pro-gay policies threaten to derail his efforts to avert schism, The Daily Telegraph has learnt. In a high-risk strategy, Dr Rowan Williams may even snub them by withdrawing their invitations to next year's Lambeth Conference. He has told friends he will challenge any bishop he believes is coming to the conference with an agenda "very much at odds" with his attempts to maintain unity in the worldwide Church.

Dr Williams sent invitations in May to most of the Anglican Church's 880 bishops around the world for the once-a-decade showcase gathering in Canterbury. He withheld invitations from only a handful of particularly divisive figures, including Bishop Gene Robinson, who became Anglicanism's first openly gay bishop in 2003. But he has now indicated that he is prepared to scrutinise controversial bishops he had already invited if there is evidence that they are unwilling to compromise their views.

The 2004 report, which he commissioned after Bishop Robinson's consecration, called on the American Episcopal Church to impose moratoriums on future consecrations of gay bishops and on same-sex blessings. The American bishops said after their critical meeting in New Orleans last month that they would not consent to another gay bishop, at least for the time being. But they acknowledged that some were still allowing clergy to carry out the public blessing of gay couples.

Dr Williams has been under great pressure from conservatives to punish the entire American Episcopal Church for bringing the worldwide Church to the brink of schism. Insiders point out, however, that Dr Williams could also target hardliners if he believes they are breaching guidelines against bishops intervening in foreign dioceses, as some Africans have done. If he decides to take the drastic step of withdrawing the invitation to bishops on either the liberal or conservative wing, he will risk a barrage of criticism and could provoke further damaging boycotts.