"There is no doubt that we are at an unsettled moment in the Church of England," the Secretary General of the Church of England General Synod told journalists on Monday.
Outlining the agenda for the July Synod in York, William Fittall said that tension over the scheduled four-day debate on women bishops was being compounded by weekend reports of an unauthorised church 'wedding' blessing for two homosexual clergymen last month, and an imminent conference of conservative Anglicans in the Holy Land.
The Global Anglican Future Conference will bring conservative Anglican clergy to Jerusalem from 22 to 29 June to "prepare for an Anglican future in which the Gospel is uncompromised" - referring to their dissatisfaction with the US Episcopal Church's decision to embrace homosexuality. The conference takes place just weeks before the Lambeth Conference, a meeting of bishops from around the Anglican Communion once every 10 years.
"This was always going to be a big summer," said Fittall. "Lambeth is a big event in the wider Communion and the fact that it is considering women bishops goes to the heart of what kind of church we want to be. The weekend's story has caused further anxiety on the part of many."
The Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, has launched an investigation into reports that the Rev Peter Cowell and the Rev David Lord exchanged rings and vows at a service of blessing at St Bartholomew the Great Church in the City of London. Current Church of England rules do not permit such services for same-sex partnerships.
Fittall predicted that the debate on women bishops would "overshadow" the York Synod.
"This is going to be the issue that is there throughout and the whole of synod is a bit anxious because nobody is confident about what the outcome will be," he said. "It is genuinely hard to call."
