Sun sets on Church of England

http://www.theage.com.au/world/sun-sets-on-church-of-england-20080621-2uod.html

[The Age] 21 Jun 2008--The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney has declared a formal split in the worldwide Anglican communion over the consecration of openly gay clergy and the blessing of same-sex unions.

Speaking in Jerusalem before the opening today of a conference of 1000 conservative Anglican leaders, including 280 bishops, Dr Peter Jensen said the split had been triggered by the ordination in the US five years ago of the gay bishop, the Reverend Gene Robinson. "What the Americans did in 2003, and what the Canadians did, was to rip the communion," Dr Jensen said.

"If we're talking about schism and the break-up of the communion, that's where it starts and that is where the responsibility is."

Dr Jensen said that the Global Anglican Future Conference was acknowledging that a new state of affairs existed within the worldwide Anglican communion, in which the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury was no longer considered dominant. "My way of putting it is to say that the British Empire has now ceased to be, and the British Commonwealth of Nations has come into existence, or the nuclear family has turned into an extended family. This is the new reality."