Church talks to avoid gay split

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Dr Rowan Williams spent seven hours with the House of Bishops of the US Episcopal Church to ask for concessions over its liberal approach to gays.

Anglican leaders have demanded that the US Episcopal Church should give guarantees that it will not allow the election of any more openly gay bishops.

They have also called for assurances from the US Episcopal Church that it will not authorise public blessing services for gay couples and that it should create a system for episcopal oversight for congregations that disagree with the church's liberal leadership.

Canon James Rosenthal, a spokesman for Dr Williams, said that in the first few hours of the talks in New Orleans, about 25 of the more than 100 participating bishops had a chance to discuss their concerns directly with the archbishop.

The issue of what scripture says about same-gender relationships came up immediately, Mr Rosenthal said.

The row between conservatives and liberals in the church erupted in 2003 when the US Episcopal Church ordained Gene Robinson as the Bishop of New Hampshire.

He is an openly gay man who lives with his male partner and his election has been a topic of contention with more conservative bishops across the 77 million-member worldwide Anglican Communion.

The feud has led to African archbishops such as the Most Rev Peter Akinola, of Nigeria, consecrating conservative US clergy to African bishoprics to allow them to minister to traditionalists in the US church.

The crisis meeting follows a summit of worldwide Anglican leaders in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, earlier this year, when they demanded the US Episcopal Church unequivocally bar official prayers for gay couples and the consecration of more gay bishops.