Chartres is hesitant to create an impression of "disunity" among the bishops, fearing this would further fuel the revisionist agenda. But his own views are clear: "The Church assists all its members to a life of faithful witness in chastity and holiness, recognising two forms or vocations in which that life can be lived: marriage and singleness [Gen II:24; Matt XIX: 4-6; I Cor. VII passim.] There is no place for the Church to confer legitimacy upon alternatives to these."

This is timely because top of the list of General Synod private members' motions at present is one from Mary Gilbert, affirming the life of lesbian and gay Christians in the Church of England and seeking reassurance that their experience is heard, as envisioned by Lambeth 1.10. And just behind it, at number two, is another from Reform's Paul Perkin criticisng the pastoral statement as producing a "recipe for confusion" and urging the bishops to study how the discipline is being applied and report back to Synod in July. Both motions can be expected to be on the agenda in February.

The CP issue is significant for the established church, which has of necessity, due to its legal status, found itself in what many evangelicals believe to be a compromised position, leaving it open to attack from Akinola and others in the Global South who see its position on CPs as placing it in the same camp, as it were, as the US and Canada.

It might indeed the case that England might not directly be affected by what has been happening in the US and GS recently and indeed, as some keep telling me, that nothing will really happen until Lambeth 2008. (Invitations will go out next summer and, thanks to George Carey who expanded it to include assistants and suffragans as well as diocesans, we can expect to see nearly 900 bishops from the communion on the campus at Kent University.) But nevertheless, February synod will make clear how live this debate is for the Church here.

And even if nothing is decided at Lambeth, there is ongoing drama in the failed New York meeting, Camp Allen, the GS comminique, Ndungane's attack on his fellow GS primates, John Chew's response and Frank Griswold's extraordinary letter warning of impending chaos. Links to all these and more via Thinking Anglicans. Griswold's growing anger is revealed in his penultimate paragraph: "I end these reflections with a quotation from one of our great Anglican spiritual guides and teachers of prayer, Evelyn Underhill. The coming of the Kingdom is perpetual. Again and again, freshness, novelty, power from beyond the world break in by unexpected paths bringing unexpected change. Those who cling to tradition and fear all novelty in God's relation to the world deny the creative activity of the Holy Sprit, and forget that what is now tradition was once innovation; that the real Christian is always a revolutionary, belongs to a new race, and has been given a new name and a new song."

Goodness I don't really know where to start with that. For the first time in my (too) long unacquaintance with this poor primate, I start to feel sorry for the man. We really are starting to see the grizzly in Griswold.

Matthews But things are going get really fun across the Atlantic. Next year, with the pending retirement of Andrew Hutchison, the Canadians will elect a new primate and reliable sources tell me the favourite is none other than the orthodox, catholic, beautiful Victoria Matthews. It is just such a crying shame that she won't be elected in time for the Primates' Meeting in Tanzania in February. Between them, these two such gifted women at the table as Matthews and Katharine Schori, could with barely a question be able to sit down and argue from their neighbouring provinces and opposite premises in a fine, civilised fashion and indeed get it all sorted out before Lambeth 2008. But as it is we are just going to have to wait until July 2008 to see those particular fireworks get lit.

In the meantime, the Church of England will be getting to grips with the issues in its own imitable way, by working out how to pass through General Synod both of those private members' motions while coming up with something on CPs that puts it neither at odds with the State nor the orthodox wing of the Communion.

END