The Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem has condemned plans to hold a "rival" Lambeth conference in his city in June as "disastrous" and has called for it to be moved to another location.

The row over the Global Anglican Futures or "Gafcon" conference in June is evidence of growing divisions among leaders of the Anglican Communion's conservartive wing.

In leaked minutes of two separate meetings with the Gafcon primates Peter Akinola, Archbishop of Nigeria and Peter Jensen, Archbishop of Sydney, the Bishop in Jerusalem, Suheil Dawani makes clear his anger that he was not consulted about the week-long conference "to discuss the future of mission and relationships within the churches of Anglican Communion."

The Bishop, who first learnt of the Jerusalem meeting, through a press release, is reported to be "deeply troubled" that the meeting could import the conflict which is splitting the worldwide church into his diocese, which straddles a city already struggling to cope with as much religious dispute as it can handle.

'If Church got rid of gay clergy it would collapse'

A homosexual bishop claims the Church of England would come close to dimise if it was forced to manage without gay clergy

BACKGROUND

• Gay weddings flourish in a religious stronghold

• Pope to discuss influx of Anglicans

• US Church pledges not to consecrate gay bishops

• Bishop defects to Catholic Church in gay row

BACKGROUND

• Pro-gay agenda pushes Church closer to schism

• Archbishop of Canterbury's 'secret gay communion'

• Archbishop faces clash over gay marriages of 50 priests

Related Links

• Boycott fear on conference

Bishop Suheil said: “It could also have serious consequences for our ongoing ministry of reconciliation in this divided land. Indeed, it could further inflame tensions here. We who minister here know only too well what happens when two sides cease talking to each other. We do not want to see any further dividing walls!"

The Primate of the Middle East, Dr Mouneer Hanna Anis, is also said to be "concerned" about the event and claims his advice to the organisers that this was not the right time or place for such a meeting was ignored.

Bishop Suheil told the two Archbishops and the conference organisers that Christians in the Holy Land, including the Diocese of Jerusalem, were "struggling with their own issues" and that "issues of peace and dialogue between the different faith communities of the Holy Land were far more important at this time than issues of homosexuality."

He also warned that the conference would threaten ecumenism and interfaith dialogue. "Bishop Suheil felt that this conference would be disastrous for his ministry in the Holy Land," the minutes report.

Archbishop Akinola said that he could not see how this conference could become a “political problem."

But Bishop Suheil described Jerusalem as a "place of reconciliation" and said that on an ecumenical level and in his efforts to maintain a diocese that covers five countries with different cultures and traditions, it was important to keep the balance.

Suggesting that the time and place for such a meeting was the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury in July, to which nearly all the bishops and primates have been invited, he urged the organisers to switch the Gafcon meeting to Cyprus, and have a pilgrimage rather than a conference in Jerusalem.