Leaders of the Sydney Diocese of the Anglican Church in Australia have proposed the church amend its constitution to make possible a split with the Church of England, following developments regarding the ordination of gay clergy and same-sex unions.

|TOP|The leaders put forward the motion, to be debated at the diocese’s annual synod next Monday, saying that recent developments within the Church of England “may make it desirable” to amend the Australian church’s constitution, making the traditional link to the “mother church” of the Anglican Communion optional, reports The Australian.

The Australian church, according to section six of the constitution, holds that unity depends on the acknowledgement that the Church of England continues to uphold biblical teaching.

The motion will be put forward by Sydney solicitor and leading Anglican layman in the Australian church, Robert Tong. “There is little doubt that the Anglican Communion faces a crisis,” he said. “Instead of an automatic linking with the Church of England in England, it will be a matter of giving the Australian church a choice.”

The synod’s standing committee is requested to consider a re-framing of section six of the church’s constitution and report again at next year’s meeting, prior to full consideration at the Australia-wide general synod in 2007.

The move constitutes the first step toward a possible split with the Church of England and follows the Anglican Church in Nigeria’s decision to omit reference to Canterbury in its constitution.