LONDON (Reuters) - The leader of the world's 70 million Anglican Christians on Friday summoned senior clergy to an emergency summit in London to discuss the impact of the appointment of a gay Episcopalian bishop in the United States.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams will send formal invitations next week to Primates, which include archbishops and leaders of the faith's 38 "provinces," to attend the meeting in mid-October, his office said in a statement.
The meeting could coincide with publication by the church's think tank of a planned discussion document on human sexuality.
The statement said the effects of "recent developments" at a convention of Episcopalians in the United States "were being felt throughout the Anglican communion and there was a need for the Primates to meet to consider them."
On Tuesday, the U.S. convention named Gene Robinson, an openly gay priest, as bishop of New Hampshire. Leaders of other provinces, especially in developing countries, strongly opposed the decision, as did conservatives in the United States.
Williams is known to support gay clergy personally, but to fear a split in the church. Last month he narrowly averted a schism by persuading a celibate gay priest in England to withdraw from consideration for a bishop's post.
"I am clear that the anxieties caused by recent developments have reached the point where we will need to sit down and discuss their consequences," he said in the statement.
"I hope that in our deliberations we will find that there are ways forward in this situation which can preserve our respect for one another and for the bonds that unite us."
Archbishop of Nigeria Peter Akinola had threatened last month to withdraw his flock of 17 million -- the largest Anglican group outside England -- from the communion if gay priest Jeffrey John were named bishop of Reading in England.
John withdrew from consideration, postponing a confrontation on the issue, but the U.S. branch of the church made Robinson its first gay bishop just weeks later.
Williams has called on the leaders of the other provinces not to rush to make "significant and irrevocable decisions" about how to respond to Robinson's appointment.