Despite these strong and solemn words, the future of the Anglican Communion still hangs precariously in the balance. Nothing is written in stone. Despite a time line and a paper thin agreement that the Episcopal Church must conform absolutely to the Windsor Report or face ecclesiastical retribution, the Anglican Communion could still come apart at the seams before the next Lambeth conference.

On her return to the U.S., Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church (TEC), called for a "season of fasting," or a moratorium on same-sex unions. In turn, she asked her Anglican counterparts to stop criticizing the American church and meddling in its affairs until common ground can be found. Finding common ground is going to prove difficult if not impossible.

Dr. Jefferts Schori's response is more of a tactic or strategym than anything else, to buy time. The former PB Frank Griswold did much the same thing in 2003 when he told the Primates in London he would never participate in the consecration of an openly homosexual bishop. Within three weeks he did just that, when he publicly ordained Gene Robinson to the episcopacy. The Primates never trusted anything he said, again.

Orthodox Southern Cone Archbishop Gregory Venables told the BBC, following the summit meeting in Tanzania, "It is a good outcome. We avoided breaking the Anglican Communion. But it is not the answer. It does not solve the problem of our separation. It does not talk about the reasons why we do not agree. I think it is going to be extremely difficult for our friends in the United States to stop what they are doing because they are doing it with such conviction and with a sense that they have to lead the way on this. Are we a church or are we just people who call ourselves Anglicans but do not believe the same things?" Then he said this: "At the present moment I think we have got two versions of Christianity: the biblical and traditional version and the post modern version in which you really create your own ideas using Christian language but with a different content. I think that means that we are not going to end up saying that we are members of the same church."

For "lesbigay" Episcopalians, any thought of compromise or "seasons of fasting" was immediately declared an anathema. Susan Russell, Integrity leader, exploded with outrage at the communiqué accusing the primates of "choosing bigotry over the baptized." The Rev. Michael Hopkins, immediate past President of Integrity, said the Primates have become the purveyor of an "anti-Gospel" that will (and should) repel many" - living proof that the Episcopal Church is a train with no reverse or no brakes.

For them, the issue is one of justice/love/diversity/inclusivity. For the orthodox, it is morality/doctrine/history/tradition and Scripture. The two are incompatible. The bright Bishop of Bethlehem, Paul Marshall, stated the opposition position well when he said: "We will not even entertain the idea of a fast from observing the baptismal covenant's promises about respecting the worth of all persons. We will not fast from actively seeking peace and justice for all. This baptismal promise is about action, not sentiment." Marshall cautioned against "possibly triumphalist 'dreams of communion'. If our witness in word and deed is being drowned in fears about what our cousins may be thinking about us, the question of idolatry will need to be explored," he wrote.

This, of course, begs two questions: First, is it the worth of all persons that we are asked to respect, or the deadly behavior of a handful of persons, who want to reverse the moral teachings of Scripture? Second, we must ask the question, who is the idolater? For nearly 40 years the orthodox have lived and compromised with Episcopal innovations. Now, they are now being steam-rolled over. They are now being put in the position of compromising their souls to make room for something that 90 percent of the communion has already rejected in Lambeth Resolution 1:10!

The idea of a Primatial Vicar must be accepted by the House of Bishops (HOB). The former President of the House of Deputies, George Werner, doesn't think it has a prayer. "As far as Tanzania's idea of Alternate Primatial stuff, that surely cannot be accepted by the HoB without General Convention's action and I simply can't imagine that ever getting approval. It is clear that this is only a wedge to get extra-national control over aspects of the life of TEC," he wrote on the HOB/D listserv.

He also ripped any attempt to stop the legal actions against schismatics (e.g., Virginia). "Those are very long processes and ought not to be interrupted or discontinued. In fact, if there is to be any kind of schism, TEC should make its legal claims right now, BEFORE that happens, or it will be used by the schismatics against TEC legally (as TEC no longer being in the AC)!"

Then he said this, "I think the important thing is for the HoB to take some kind of action which would be certain not to please Akinola, and that would lead (hopefully) to Akinola's withdrawal (or expulsion of TEC), not by TEC's initiation. That dynamic (Akinola's action to withdraw or exclude) it seems would be of tremendous importance since the re-asserters in TEC could not blame TEC for the split. And now that apparently, Akinola has extended his challenge to the Church of England as well (if the news report is accurate), it seems he might take off on his own, which would be exactly what I would wish."

Said another liberal priest, "Get out take action. I repent of giving the inch of B033. No more inches."

Not to be outdone, the thrice married Walter Righter, former suffragan bishop of Newark and Bishop of Iowa, had this to say: "Akinola and crowd have made threats like this before - mostly as pressure upon us. I dare them to do what they threaten."

They just might.

So it's a game of time and chance.

The Primates also recommended the creation of a "Pastoral Council" within the Episcopal Church, to oversee the provision of primatial oversight to those dioceses and congregations that cannot, at present, accept the oversight of the Presiding Bishop. Dr. Schori supported this initiative.

The head of the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa, Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, said the Church in Africa will decide whether to secede, depending on how Canterbury, the Church's headquarters in London, reacts to their ultimatum. He has also said that it should be the Episcopal Church that must step aside. It all depends on who blinks first.

"We have given the Anglican Church an ultimatum to review the situation and by September we will know whether to continue together or apart," he told journalists in Nairobi, following the meeting in Tanzania.

The last time this happened, at Nottingham, the Episcopal Church withdrew from several committees of the Anglican Consultative Council. This was a slap on the wrist, a public humiliation for the TEC. The TEC House of Deputies threatened to withdraw funds from the ACC, but withdrew that idea when they realized that the ACC was still their best hope (apart from the Archbishop of Canterbury) for staying at the table and getting sodomy brokered into the church. The checkbook remained open.

It is interesting to note how much the TEC gives to the Anglican Communion, as an exercise in financial power. According to 2007-2009 TEC budgets, the ACC assessment is $753,000, rising to $814,000 in 2009! A separate line item, Total Anglican and Global Relations, is $3.2 million, with the specifically "Anglican" subset of that being $400K. There is also another $4M in overseas covenants for TEC dioceses in the Americas, which might include indirect funding.

Dr. Schori repeatedly has said she is primate of the Episcopal Church and 15 countries - countries that the TEC has bought and paid for, and continues to pay for - the worst example of financial colonialism. Meanwhile, Episcopal revisionists blast orthodox bishops and organizations, like the AAC and Network, for taking money from the Ahmanson Foundation and other conservative bank accounts. Would there be an Episcopal presence in Central and South America if it wasn't for TEC Trust Funds? What about the millions of dollars of TEC (dead men's) money the Province of Mexico has squandered over the years and the TEC's ability to manipulate the Province of Brazil into buying its gay agenda?

If Lambeth 2008 is to happen without TEC money, then African Primates will have to start pooling their financial resources, now.

If, as many TEC liberals believe, overseas archbishops cannot dictate policy to the American Episcopal Church (we have no uniform canons or constitution across the communion) without going through the HoB and, possibly, a General Convention, then it would seem there is little point in the Global South even thinking of staying at the table. That is a foregone conclusion.We all know how General Conventions go.

Saying, that it would not authorize same-sex blessings (SSBs), but ALLOW SSB's to continue, while liberal bishops turn a blind eye, is disingenuous at best and deceptive at worst. The Global South will never go for it.

Dr. Schori says she wants to keep the door open for yet more conversations about sexuality and same-sex unions, but that is an option the Global South Archbishops no longer tolerate. "It's an enormous cost and price that's being asked of us and I don't know if we can or should pay that price," said Schori. If she doesn't pay it, the Global South will either exact it or walk away from her. The primates' terms for accepting assurances that The Episcopal Church wishes to remain as full members of the Anglican Communion is a bitter pill for many people, she said. Very true.

Speaking at the opening of the Church of England Synod this week, Dr. Williams noted, in his remarks on the meeting in Tanzania, that the possibility, of normalizing relations between the Episcopal Church and others in the Communion, was not very hopeful. About eleven provinces were fairly satisfied; about eleven were totally dissatisfied, he said. It is the latter eleven who make up more than 70 percent of the Anglican Communion, in terms of practicing Anglicans. They are black, under 30 and female. They don't need The Episcopal Church or its money, and they are not interested in some esoteric discussion about the hermeneutics of sodomy, now being put forth by the ACC illuminati following years of "listening" and blessed "conversation."

Many questions still remain. If there is a primatial vicar, chosen by Dr. Schori, will this person be acceptable to the eight orthodox dioceses looking for commissary status? What about orthodox parishes caught in revisionist dioceses, most of whom have found DEPO (Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight) unacceptable and have been refused AEO (alternative Episcopal Oversight), because they still see, in DEPO, the hands of the sitting bishop pulling the strings.

Will the lawsuits stop? No. Bishop Lee has just announced that he and the diocese will proceed agains the parsihes who have fled his jurisdiction. Will the onslaught against orthodox parishes and priests by revisionist bishops suddenly cease? Will revisionist bishops suddenly allow orthodox seminary graduates from TSM and Nashotah House to take parishes in their dioceses? We shall see. Will love/justice/inclusivity/diversity and, perhaps a little mercy, start flowing from revisionist bishops towards orthodox priests and bishops? Will Gene Robinson stand up and apologize for all the bad things he has said about Bob Duncan?

Despite the remarks of Dr. Williams (at the beginning of this article), he himself is deeply conflicted over homosexuality. A 140-page paper (http://tinyurl.com/yqfjud), put out by a number of conservative theologians from SPREAD, says he has always held views at variance with Scripture which he has never repudiated at any time before, or during, his occupancy of Lambeth Palace. What he has said is that he will hold in check his private views while standing by Lambeth 1:10. Will that, ultimately, satisfy Akinola's Eleven?

It is not just Dr. Schori with whom Dr. Williams must contend. He must, also, deal with the Global South who has the real power and moral authority to decide which way the Anglican Communion goes. They learned, long ago, that one doesn't need to go through Canterbury to get to Jesus; and they certainly don't need the Episcopal Church. It is they who may walk away from Canterbury, if The Episcopal Church does not conform.

At the end of the day, it is the African Lion (Akinola) who must be appeased and not Dr. Schori or Dr. Williams. His bite, we have learned, is definitely worse than his bark.

END