Williams said he wanted to make two points about the controversy: First, he said, "the present difficulties would feel a lot more difficult were it not for the immense love and generosity shown to me by (the American Episcopal Church)."

Second, Williams said his experience on Sept. 11, 2001 -- when he was caught in lower Manhattan only blocks from the World Trade Center -- had "made it difficult to feel estranged from the struggles of the Episcopal Church in the United States."

''The commitment we are asking of persons who are entering into holy unions is of the same nature as the commitment we are asking of couples who are entering holy matrimony," Vermont Bishop Thomas Clark Ely said in a telephone interview from the diocesan headquarters in Burlington. ''These relationships are expressive of God's love . . . and the church should be willing to recognize and embrace these loving and committed relationships."

We hope that this new day of cooperation can be mirrored in Canada as
all orthodox groups work for a common cause of gospel faithfulness and
fruitfulness in the light of the recent General Synod's decision to
"affirm the integrity and sanctity of committed adult same sex
relationships" which as nine orthodox Canadian Bishops have noted "is in error and contrary to the teaching of Scripture and the tradition of the

The Rt. Rev. Chuck Murphy, Chairman of the Anglican Mission in America, welcomed the new day of cooperation, “Even as we watch with some sadness the painful yet necessary realignment in the Anglican Communion, I am encouraged by the willingness of a growing number of orthodox groups and voices to work together to shape a new Anglican witness for the 21st Century.”