Anglicans brace themselves for an outbreak of unity

From the London Times-

Archbishops of Canterbury through the centuries have explained the genius of Anglicanism as subsisting in its nature as a “broad” but catholic church, universal in its inclusivity. The last three archbishops have all told the same jokes: “The Church of England is like a swimming pool, all the noise is at the shallow end.” Or the one about the evangelical, liberal and catholic wings: “Low and lazy, High and crazy, Broad and hazy.”

Then came the debate over homosexuality, and everything changed, not just in England but throughout the 44 provinces and churches of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

After the consecration of the gay Bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson, in 2003 against the wishes of the primates or archbishops of the Communion, schism seemed inevitable as evangelicals stopped being lazy, if they ever were, and began campaigning — with an energy unprecedented among Anglicans in the modern era — for Gospel orthodoxy. Liberals stopped being quite so broad, and began giving evangelicals a hard time, especially in North America. The few old-style Anglo-Catholics left after women priests wondered how to cope with a debate that threatened not only their historical interpretation of orthodoxy but also to stigmatise those shy homosexuals among them who had for years simply got on quietly with a life of ministry and mission, with or without partners.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5679118.ece