Anglican Turmoil Intensifies, Episcopal Pact Rejected By Conservative Leader

Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola has rejected the U.S. Episcopal Church's latest efforts to calm tensions over the consecration of gay bishops - an issue threatening to split the global Anglican-Episcopalian family.

Akinola, a vocal and influential leader of the faction seeking an outright ban on gay bishops, said a resolution this week by the U.S. Episcopalians that failed to explicitly bar gay bishops from the pulpit meant his followers' "pleas have once again been ignored." "Instead of the change of heart (repentance) that we sought what we have been offered is merely a temporary adjustment," Akinola said in a statement posted on his church's Web site.

Akinola said church leaders would have to meet to coordinate their response. He made no mention of a formal separation.

Anglican leaders had set a Sunday deadline for the Episcopal Church, which is the Anglican body in the U.S., to pledge unequivocally not to consecrate another gay bishop or approve an official prayer service for same-sex couples. On Tuesday, U.S. bishops affirmed a resolution passed last year by the Episcopal General Convention that urged bishops to "exercise restraint" by not consenting to a candidate for bishop "whose manner of life presents a challenge" to Anglicans and the church.

[Really, a surprise to anyone?]