(Some would summarize as saying the Primates were/are attempting to set themselves up as an Anglican Pope with power to order certain behaviors within independent Provinces.)

What’s Next:
The every 10 year gathering of all Anglican Bishops (Lambeth Conference) is scheduled for 2008. As of now, the Bishop of Canterbury has invited all bishops EXCEPT Bishop Robinson of New Hampshire and the Bishop Minns (The individual consecrated by the Primate of Nigeria to serve disaffected U.S. Anglicans.)

This issue will be dealt with further at the upcoming quarterly meeting of the House of Bishops in September when the Archbishop of Canterbury and several other primates whom he invited to join him will be present for dialogue.

A Paraphrase of Bob Shank’s perspective: Numerically the Anglican Church is huge in Africa. The African Provinces were formed by a missionary group of the Church of England called “The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG.)” (SPG also sent Missionaries to the Colonies in the early 1700’s) This organization is strongly Calvinistic and preached more fundamental form of Christianity; less like The Church of England itself, and the Canadian and U.S. churches who are more steeped in the tradition of the Via Media, or acceptance of a range of beliefs, and the bridge between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.

The Triggering Issue:

How should homosexual persons be treated by the church?

Father Bob would say it all boils down to “how do we interpret scripture, literally or metaphorically, and do we utilize the knowledge that has been gained from modern biblical criticism?”