Liberal Anglican bishops from the US arrived in London on Tuesday 7th September 2004 for sanction talks at Lambeth Palace with Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The sudden visit by the liberal delegation comes after suggestions that they may be barred by the Archbishop from Anglican summits, and disciplined by the worldwide Anglican Church as a punishment for their support of the first gay bishop last year.

The punishment is anticipated to be recommended by the Lambeth Commission, which was set up by Rev Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to give advice on how to best defuse the crisis of homosexuality in the Church.

The Commission’s recommendations will not be officially published until October, but if the reports are true then the findings are likely to cause disappointment among liberal Christians and Anglican-Catholics in the West, who will regard such a decision as a defeat to the conservative evangelicals.

The punishments are thought to be necessary for the task of retaining some degree of unity within the Anglican community. Some church leaders have already shown their impatience with the situation and have declared themselves as “out of communion” with America and Canada. In particular the Nigeria Church has begun founding a new evangelical Anglican Church in America in response to the crisis. On top of this, bishops in Uganda have taken three parishes into their care from the United States.

The four US bishops visiting London - the Rt Rev Thomas Shaw (Massachusetts), the Rt Rev Robert O'Neill (Colorado), the Rt Rev J Clark Drew (Ohio) and the Rt Rev Don Johnson (West Tennessee), are supported by Bishop Frank Griswold, the liberal Primate of the American Episcopal Church.

Griswold had presided at the consecration of the homosexual Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire and has already been barred from annual primate meetings, the highest Anglican Council, for his positive support for gay bishops. He is expected to arrive depart for London today.