Over 700 bishops of the world-wide Anglican Communion have been meeting for the past three weeks on the leafy campus of the University of Kent on the hills overlooking Canterbury Cathedral. Once again, Archbishop Robin Eames of Armagh and Bishop John Neill, of Cashel and Ossory, have played key roles in the conference, giving prominence and influence to the Church of Ireland beyond its size.
Archbishop Eames's profile was enhanced this week with his deft handling of the difficult debate on homosexuality, leading one commentator to speculate yet again that he might be a potential candidate for the See of Canterbury. Bishop Neill emerged as a strong advocate of the Anglican Communion, maintaining its unity while respecting a diversity of opinions. Some potential conflicts - including the presence for the first time of 11 women bishops - never really materialised.
But from the beginning it was clear that the greatest threat to unity would emerge during the debate on homosexuality. African and Asian bishops aligned with conservative western bishops to ensure the conference sent out a traditional message, particularly on the ordination of practising homosexuals and the blessing of same-sex relationships. But the vote is not binding on the 52 autonomous churches or provinces that form the Anglican Communion. Both Bishop Holloway and Bishop Frederick Borsch of Los Angeles have indicated that the ordination of homosexuals and blessings of their relationships will continue.
Nor is Bishop Holloway correct in blaming "fundamentalists" for the course of events. In many ways, the debate was forced by Bishop John Spong of Newark and other liberals before their colleagues were able to consider the moral issues. Nor is Wednesday's motion as harsh as some commentators have found it on a first reading. It recognises the reality of homosexual clergy, including bishops, condemns homophobia, commits the bishops to listening to the experiences of homosexuals and calls for pastoral and sensitive care of all "irrespective of sexual orientation".
The Rev Richard Kirker, of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, has put a kinder interpretation on the motion, saying it has put the subject on the agenda of the Anglican churches for the first time. For many, the question of whether two individuals of the same sex should or should not live a shared life must seem trivial against a background of the urgent need for energies to be harnessed in addressing the sin of economic injustice.
Indeed, the bishops provided strong moral leadership and proved the worldly relevance of church conferences such as Lambeth with their unanimous call for the cancellation of the worst debts of the poorest nations in the Third World. The Third World bishops accounted for two-thirds of the bishops present at Canterbury. Their presence shows that the Anglican Communion cannot be dismissed as some colonial extension of the Church of England, but is a true world-wide family of churches.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, who is president of the conference, has done too little to hold the bishops and their churches together. The contribution of the Irish and African bishops, of Welsh bishops such as Bishop Rowan Williams of Monmouth, and Asian bishops such as Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, all of whom would be qualified for the position, show that the Church of England could do better the next time by casting its nets wider than before.