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Anglican Church rifts deepened further today with the disclosure of plans to consecrate yet another conservative bishop in the US in defiance of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.

The Archbishop and Primate of Kenya, the Most Rev Benjamin Nzimbi, is to consecrate US conservative cleric Canon Bill Atwood as a suffragan bishop to oversee the US based congregations of the Anglican Church of Kenya.

The consecration on August 30 of Canon Atwood is “part of a broader and coordinated plan with other provinces,” the Archbishop said. It will "support the international interests of the Anglican Church of Kenya, including support of Kenyan clergy and congregations in North America.”

Kenya already has oversight in the US. The distinguished scholar Dr Gideon Githiga, Bishop of Thika has been looking after thecongregations in the US. Conservative Anglican bishops have already been consecrated in the US as missionary bishops for Rwanda and Nigeria.

The Kenyan initiative differs from the Rwandan and Nigerian ones in that it operates direct from the province through a suffragan, rather than being a new missionary set-up.The consecration will nevertheless be a direct snub to Dr Williams, who has asked that cross-boundary interference cease in the interests of unity.

But orthodox Anglicans believe they have no choice but to seek primatial oversight outside the US, given the US bishops' own defiance of in pressing ahead with the consecration of an openly-gay bishop against the wishes of Dr Williams. The US bishops recently exacerbated the crisis by rejecting proposals made by the Church's 39 Primates to set up a pastoral council to care for conservatives.

According to the Episcopal newsletter Living Church, an undisclosed number of Global South primates are expected to participate in Canon Atwood’s consecration in Nairobi and are expected to work with the Kenyan Church in forming a North American Anglican Coalition.The coalition is intended “provide a safe haven for those who maintain historic Anglican faith and practice, and offer a way to live and work together in the furtherance of the gospel."

Archbishop Nzimbi said The Episcopal Church had torn the fabric of the Anglican Communion and the House of Bishops had “exacerbated” the damage by failing to provide adequate pastoral care for the “faithful” and for rejecting the pastoral council “offered through the primates in their communiqué from Dar es Salaam.”Writer George Conger says in Living Church says the consecration of Canon Atwood, general secretary of the traditionalist Ekklesia Society, will mark the third time an African Anglican province has created a missionary jurisdiction in the United States.

The Anglican Mission in the Americas operates under the aegis of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda, while the Convocation of Anglicans in North America is overseen by the Church of Nigeria. Several other overseas provinces, including Central Africa and the Southern Cone, also exercise jurisdiction over US-based parishes.

Liberal episcopalians who support Bishop Robinson will be encouraged in one significant respect by the new development. It indicates that the conservatives are themselves divided over who is to provide a home for the "orthodox". In the end, the US Church that remains the "official" Anglican body that part of the worldwide Anglican Communion will be the one that retains the cash. The Episcopal Church, in spite of its relatively small number of worshippers, is hugely wealthy and can easily afford the many legal battles pending over property. Dr Williams will be addressing its bishops in September, after his sabbatical and holiday.