He said they should also relinquish decision-making powers in the Anglican Consultative Council that deals with questions of doctrine and authority.

When openly homogenital Bishop Gene Robinson was consecrated in 2003, the Anglican Communion leadership laid out three promises, or moratoria, according to the archbishop of Canterbury website:

1. No authorization of blessings services for same-sex unions.
2. No consecrations of bishops living in same-sex relationships.
3. No cross-border interventions (no bishop authorizing any ministry within the diocese of another bishop without explicit permission).

All of these have been broken.

The archbishop's message raises more questions than it answers.

First of all, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori gets a free pass. Nowhere in his statement is she specifically mentioned, nor is Fred Hiltz, the Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Canada, who steadfastly supports gay marriage, nor are any of the rest of the Anglican primates. It is the lower level orders that come in for his opprobrium.

According to the Episcopal News Service, only two Episcopal Church members are expected to be affected by the proposal. One serves on the Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue and the other on the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order.

When a province "declines to accept requests or advice from the consultative organs of the communion, it is very hard to see how members of that province can be placed in positions where they are required to represent the communion as a whole," Williams said. "This affects both our ecumenical dialogues ... and our faith-and-order related groups."

Williams said that affected provinces "will be contacted about the outworking of this in the near future."

Episcopal Church members currently serving on the Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue are the Rev. Thomas Ferguson, the Episcopal Church's interim deputy for ecumenical and interreligious relations, and Assistant Bishop William Gregg of North Carolina. Other members who may be asked to resign their membership are the Rev. Canon Philip Hobson and Natasha Klukach from the Anglican Church of Canada and the Rev. Joseph Wandera from the Anglican Church of Kenya. Some dioceses in the Canadian church have made provisions for blessing same-gender unions while the Kenyan church has consecrated former Episcopalians as bishops in the U.S., an action that is in contravention of the moratorium on cross-border interventions.

But sources in London tell VOL that Dr. Williams' statement is virtually without consequences - just enough for the media to say that he is doing something, and doing it in an even handed way. "It is actually trivial, and apparently it is subject to discussion at the next primates' meeting," VOL was told.

An orthodox Episcopal bishop told VOL, "Rowan threaded the needle as he always does."

The exclusion of the Global South from these bodies on account of their border crossing will, I think, simply result in wry smiles. Mrs. Jefferts Schori gets another free pass as did Frank Griswold, her predecessor. The Global South who represent 80% of the Anglican Communion have always viewed pansexual behavior as soul destroying and life denying. Border crossing (which ceased when the ACNA was born more than a year ago) has been viewed as a necessary "evil" done at the behest of orthodox North American Anglicans forced into ecclesiastical bunkers in order to survive.

Some global leaders have indicated that Williams' message is "inadequate" and fails to deal with the "deeper issues of theological and moral innovation by North American leaders."

The deeper question is will the Global South primates even attend the January 2011 meeting? Will they even respond to this statement?

At what point do they formally signify that they no longer accept the authority of any of the Anglican Communion bodies? Is there a "tipping point"? Certainly there has been enormous outrage by orthodox Global South primates at the manipulative tactics of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) by Canon Kenneth Kearon and more particularly his predecessor John Peterson. This has been largely due to the fact that the bulk of the ACC's budget is funded by The Episcopal Church. Should that dry up, so would the ACC.

Williams' actions have done nothing, over the years, to allay the fears of orthodox archbishops and bishops that the innovations of North American primates will ever be seriously dealt with. His Pentecost message action seems more like a phlegmatic burp than the sound of a mighty rushing wind.

In an odd twist, Williams points to the recent Global South to South gathering in Singapore citing their call for diversity as a means to Anglican identity. This is to completely misread what happened there.

In Singapore, Global South leaders put the brakes on any immediate acceptance of an Anglican Covenant, arguing that it needed to be strengthened "in order for it to fulfill its purpose". They also argued vigorously against the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion's interference and stand to implement a Covenant.

They argued that the Primates are the only legitimate body to oversee and implement the Covenant, a major slap at the Anglican Consultative Council that, over time, has assumed powers it was never given. They also said, "All those who adopt the Covenant must be in compliance with Lambeth 1.10."

Participants concluded the communiqué saying that the entire Anglican Communion structure, especially the Instruments of Communion and the Anglican Communion office, should be reviewed in order to achieve an authentic expression of the current reality of the Anglican Communion.

The truth is the "painful divisions" Williams speaks of in his message will only continue and heighten in the coming months. If he calls for a Primates meeting in London in January, will any of the orthodox Primates come? What Williams says in his message are "recrimination, confusion and bitterness all round," will only continue.

An American Anglican Council spokesman said the step Williams took was not strong enough. The ambitious Ian Douglas Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut said that while Williams' statement is "of significance ... it's not as punitive as it might have been. It's another expression of how we're trying to live with our differences with integrity and not alienate one another," Douglas said. "I'm still convinced there's so much more that unites us."

Fiction dies hard among liberals and revisionists like Douglas. The alienation and divisions were fully and finally recognized in 2009 in Alexandria, Egypt. Two religions now exist side by side in the Anglican Communion and are utterly irreconcilable. A Covenant will neither gloss over nor cement that reality.

Williams acknowledged that the communion currently faces a dilemma. "To maintain outward unity at a formal level while we are convinced that the divisions are not only deep but damaging to our local mission is not a good thing," he said.

"Neither is it a good thing to break away from each other so dramatically that we no longer see Christ in each other and risk trying to create a church of the 'perfect' -- people like us."

The truth is that Williams' Pentecost message has resolved nothing. The fix is in. A de facto break already exists. His message will be seen by the Global South for what it is, the last gasp of a spent Communion and not the hoped for mighty wind of joyful anticipation.

END