|PIC1|The Anglican Church of Kenya has announced plans to install an American priest to oversee congregations in the US.

The controversial developments will reignite rumours of schism within the Communion, as the Episcopal Church in the USA becomes increasingly isolated due to its liberal stance on homosexuality within the Church.

The new plans by the African Church will see a third "missionary" group established in the US, made up of disillusioned American Anglicans hoping to be under the care of Church leaders with a more traditional faith in Scripture.

Worryingly for the Communion, the new plans exclude any comment or reference to Lambeth Palace, which is seen by many as further evidence of an increasingly dividing worldwide Church.

Some commentators are suggesting that the decision by Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi is part of a wider move to create an alternative Anglican worldwide structure, Religious Intelligence has reported.

Till now there are two separate Anglican missions operating in the US - the Anglican Mission in America, whose bishop is Chuck Murphy, and CANA (Convocation of Anglicans in North America), whose bishop is Martyn Minns.

The planned new group will be called the 'North American Anglican Coalition', and will install Bishop Bill Atwood as its head, who will oversee more than 200 congregations throughout the USA.

Recent developments will do nothing to comfort Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams - the spiritual head of the Anglican Communion - who has tried to reconcile the warring parties since Bishop Gene Robinson was consecrated as the first openly gay bishop in 2003.

Earlier this week, Robinson further enraged his critics by announcing plans to allow his clergy to carry out same-sex blessings.

Consequently Archbishop Nzimbi has said that developments in North America had left him with no other options.

The Kenya Church plans are understood to have received the approval of the leaders of the Global South, Religious Intelligence has reported. However, it also explains that Archbishop Rowan Williams was not included at all in the planning.

Nzimbi has stated that the Episcopal Church had torn the fabric of the Anglican Communion and the House of Bishops had "exacerbated" the damage by failing to provide adequate pastoral care for the "faithful" and for rejecting the Pastoral Council "offered through the Primates in their Communiqué from Dar es Salaam."