TORONTO -- An impassioned ideological difference within the Anglican Church over the role of gays and lesbians threatens to create a schism among the faithful, the church's worldwide spiritual leader said yesterday in announcing plans to meet with its embattled U.S. wing.

"I think the (church) in recent years has had to face the fact that the division on certain subjects, especially sexuality, has been getting much more deep and bitter and threatens to divide us."

"Part of that program later this year will in fact, I can now say, involve a meeting in the United States of America with . . . The Episcopal Church," he said.

The Episcopal Church, as the U.S. wing is known, risks losing its place in the international Anglican family for its controversial support of gay rights. A Sept. 30 deadline has been set for the U.S. church to ban the blessing of same-sex unions and the ordination of gay bishops or face possible expulsion from the international communion.

The question facing the Anglican Church, namely of what forms of behaviour it has the authority to bless, can't be settled by decree from the church's leading figure, said Williams.

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