The Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) on Tuesday 21st June in Nottingham, England, has been filled with tenseness and anxiety. The day saw a total of 10 representatives from the US Episcopal Church (ECUSA) and the Anglican Church of Canada give presentations on their liberal attitudes towards homosexuality, to members of the Council from 50 countries.

To the audience which included the head of the 77 million-strong Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, both US and Canadian presenters openly defended homosexuality and gay bishops. They mainly called for continuous consultation and debate on the theological aspect of the dividing issue, yet they appealed for unity in Christ within the Communion worldwide.

The US Episcopal Church released a 130-page paper to the Council yesterday titled "To Set Our Hope on Christ: A Response to the Invitation of Windsor Report Paragraph 135". The paper was prepared by a group of seven theologians and one historian at the request of Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, head of the US Episcopal Church.

According to the foreword by Bishop Griswold, the Episcopal Church has been seeking the answer to the question of homosexuality for nearly 40 years, however the document aims to address a more fundamental question on the holiness and faithfulness in human intimacy.

The document argued that "members of the Episcopal Church have discerned holiness in same-sex relationships and have come to support the blessing of such unions and the ordination or consecration of persons in those unions."

Bishop Griswold explained in the foreword, "...a majority of the representatives of the wider church - bishops, clergy and lay persons - have felt guided by the Holy Spirit, a gain in light of prayer and discernment to consent to the election and consecration (of homosexual clergy)," though the Church has not reached a common mind on the issue.

"This paper is an explanation of how this action could have been taken by faithful people it makes the positive case...it does not attempt to give all sides of an argument or to model a debate," he added.

"We believe that God has been opening our eyes to acts of God that we had not known how to see before," quoted the document.

According to the Anglican Journal, Bishop Griswold, in opening the American presentation yesterday, said the US Episcopal Church is "committed to the life and witness of the Anglican Communion" and "beyond our differences ... we are called on Christ to love."

The six American presenters came up one by one to give their personal opinion on homosexuality. Many have claimed holiness and faithfulness exist in same-sex relationships.

Bishop Charles Jenkins of Louisiana is the only one in the US team who opposed Bishop Gene Robinson's ordination, saying he felt the Church had "made a wrong move" in appointing an openly gay bishop. But he said he trusts and respects Bishop Griswold’s decision. He also appealed for Anglicans to stay together.

On the other hand, the four-member team from the Anglican Church of Canada appeared to be more conciliatory. The Church stresses that it is still "in the midst of a conversation" on the issue of blessing same-sex unions and affirms that the Church is committed to maintaining its membership in the Anglican Communion.

The "key messages" the Canadian team presented to the ACC yesterday were contained in a document entitled "The Conversation in the Canadian Church". An extensive kit of information which provides background documents to the Canadian Church's evolving position on same-sex blessings was also submitted.

"We experience in our province many of the deep divisions that the Communion experiences, and believe that it is only possible to grow in our mutual understanding where our disagreement has not broken our communion with one another," the document said.

The kit includes a letter from Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, the Canadian Primate, as requested by the Windsor Report, in which he expresses regret that Canadian actions have led to problems in the Communion.

"We have not always consulted with our brothers and sisters around the Anglican Communion and we deeply regret that the bonds of our mutual affection have been strained," the Canadian Primate writes.

Rev. Stephen Andrews, president of Thorneloe University and a member of the Primate's Theological Commission, said he had been described as "inclined to conservative." He noted that some say the Biblical texts do not contemplate committed gay relationships but that he and the majority of biblical scholars do not agree.

He also called for ongoing dialogue and said Western Christians face difficulties when they try to rationalise why Scripture prohibits same-sex relationships. He also said the theological commission had expressed the opinion that blessing same-sex relationships is a matter of doctrine for the Canadian church, but should not be church-dividing.

The 10-day ACC meeting is now underway at the University of Nottingham, and will continue until 28th June.