One bishop told this newspaper: “It is a chance for us to air things ahead of the House of Bishops’ meeting in January. We want to approach that meeting in a spirit of togetherness so that we are able to have fruitful discussions.”

He added that some bishops are keen for Archbishop Williams to establish whether or not the Americans are willing to adhere to the findings of the report. It called for a moratorium of consecrating gay bishops and authorising rites for same-sex blessings, but days after the report was published ECUSA’s Presiding Bishop, Frank Griswold, indicated that it would not be respected.

The meeting in January will be the last time the bishops convene together before Archbishop Williams flies to the Primates’ Meeting in February. A paper that was published this week by the Church of England Evangelical Council and Anglican Mainstream called for the Primates to consider whether the American Church and diocese of New Westminster should be allowed to remain within the Communion.

Drawn up by leading evangelicals and commended by the West Indian Primate, Archbishop Drexel Gomez, who was a member of the Lambeth Commission, the paper criticises the report for “attempting to treat symptoms without understanding the underlying disease”.

It accuses the Commission of giving “excessive generosity concerning culpability” to ECUSA and New Westminster. “There is a failure to draw fully on some available aspects of the Gospel, which might then have helped us to know how to deal with sickness and sin within the Church.”

The paper urges the Primates to secure a commitment from the Americans and Canadians that they will not repeat their actions, which have “torn the fabric of the Communion”.

In his Advent letter, Archbishop Williams appealed to liberals and conservatives to end the war over homosexuality.

He issued a warning over the language that was being used, which he warned could drive homosexuals out of the Church and even lead to suicide and incite homophobic acts of murder. “Any words that could make it easier for someone to attack or abuse a homosexual are words of which we must repent.

“In the heat of this controversy things have been said that about homosexual people that have made many of them, including those who lead celibate lives, feel there is no good news for them in the Church.”

Dr Williams also pleaded with liberals to heed the central call of the report: “Because there has been much talk of apology in the light of the Report, it has been all too easy to miss the centrality of God’s call to repentance.”

END