But he acknowledged that there would be resistance from people anxious to retain the autonomy of the 38 individual provinces that form the worldwide Communion, and some want an even more loosely-tied federation.

"The Anglican Communion is not like a golf club," said Archbishop Eames.

"The question is, do you write rules and, having written these rules, then try to get agreement from those who do not want to be bound by rules? If that is done, then it will be the first time we have done it."

The Archbishop's comments came at a press conference on the first day of the Church of Ireland's General Synod in Armagh, and coincided with an appeal for unity from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.

Preaching in St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh last night, Dr Williams
singled out Dr Eames's work on the commission and said that Christians who faced conflict had to try to see the position from the point of view of their enemies.

"We have to let the fear and suspicion that another is going through be
felt in our own hearts and minds; we have to let the world appear to us as it appears to them, and to sense and share the risks they believe they face," he told the congregation.

Dr Williams, who set up the Lambeth Commission in October, said that the process was more intense for groups of rival Christians because they were rooted in the same faith.

However, in fresh evidence of growing divisions, a church is to withhold
its entire quota - the "tax" paid by parishes to central diocesan funds -
in protest at the appointment of Dr Jeffrey John as Dean of St Albans.

In what is thought to be an unprecedented act, Holy Trinity church in
Barnet, north London, has told the Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Rev
Christopher Herbert, that it will not pay a penny of the £33,600 the
diocese expects.

The Rev Charles Dobbie, the vicar, said that he blamed Bishop Herbert for approving the appointment of Dr John, the openly homosexual cleric who was forced to stand down as Bishop of Reading last summer.

Mr Dobbie, a member of the conservative evangelical Church Society, said he hoped that other churches, some of whom already withhold parts of their quotas, would follow Holy Trinity's lead and pay nothing.

"We were shocked and grieved by the appointment of Jeffrey John last
month," he said. "We have decided to stand up and be counted."

He added that he would not now expect the diocese to pay for his upkeep, and any extra money the parish held would go to a Christian charity ministering to homosexuals.

Church sources said that the decision would have little impact on central
finances, though the position could change if a large number of parishes
followed suit.

END