For Episcopalians, this might be the big one

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/living/religion/11109201.htm

[Fort Worth Star-Telegram] March 12, 2005--"This is the culmination of 30 years of controversy," said the Rev. Canon Charles A. Hough III, assistant to Fort Worth Bishop Jack Iker. "They are calling on the Episcopal Church to repent of their actions and get their house in order."

Those on the other side, however, say that is overstating the matter.

"There is no mention of repentance," said Katie Sherrod, a Fort Worth Episcopal lay leader. "The Windsor Report [a commissioned one-year study on gay issues to which primates responded] only called for expression of regret over the hurt caused by the action."

Sherrod said some church leaders in Ireland and elsewhere are questioning whether the primates have the authority to ask the U.S. and Canadian members of the Anglican Consultative Council to withdraw.

She also said that conservative bishops also got a slap from the report, warning them not to interfere with other dioceses. Some American church leaders upset with the gay bishop decision have sought oversight from conservative overseas bishops.

Whether the primates have the authority to ask the North American churches to withdraw from the Anglican Consultative Council is beside the point. If the North American churches refuse to comply with their request, we may see a day in the not distant future when most of the provinces of the Anglican Communion withdraw their membership from the ACC and form a new "instrument of unity". The North American churches can withdraw and reconsider their position on homosexuality, thereby preserving the Anglican Communion. Or they can persist in the divisive action which is estranging them from the rest of the Anglican Communion and threatens to tear it apart.