By TAMARA McKENZIE, Guardian Political Editor

tamara@nasguard.com

Anglicans from around the world are expected to converge on the capital today, to begin formal discussions at a five-day meeting to examine the election and consecration of a practicing homosexual as Episcopal Bishop in the US state of New Hampshire.

The meeting, which will be held at the Anglican Addington House on Sands Road, will be chaired by Anglican Archbishop of the West Indies, the Rt Reverend Drexel Gomez. Committee members are visiting from the United States and as far as Africa, Europe and South-East Asia.

In 2005, Archbishop Gomez was appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams to head a Covenant to examine the schism in the Anglican Communion as a result of events in the United States that all came to a head in 2003. At the time, the Episcopal Church in the United States made two decisions at their convention, one of which was the confirmation and election of Canon V Gene Robinson, an openly gay person who divorced his wife and left his two children to become the next Bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire. The second Act of the Convention was to pass a Resolution that would recognize same-sex weddings taking place in individual Dioceses and Parishes. The churches of the Southern Diocese, however, of which The Bahamas is a member, objected to both of these proposed actions.

In 2003, following Archbishop Gomez's return from the two-day Extraordinary Meeting of Primates in London, he announced that Primates of the Anglican Communion by an overwhelming majority found the appointment of Robinson "unacceptable" and had given notice that should the American church proceed with the ordination of Robinson, it would definitely produce division and break in the Communion among many of the provinces. The Communion is comprised of 38 independent and autonomous provinces, sharing a common faith, worship, fellowship and witness.

At the time, Archbishop Gomez also predicted that the actions of the Episcopal Church would seriously hamper common teachings within the Communion. Coupled with the Bishop's warning, a scathing 121-page 2004 Windsor Report released by the Lambeth Commission had outlined that Americans should either apologize or consider parting company with the leadership of the worldwide communion. The report, which was released by a 17-member panel -including Archbishop Gomez who is a Primate of the West Indies - called for a stop to the further promotion of homosexuals to the office of bishop, pending consensus in the Anglican Communion.

Meanwhile, at the end of this week's meeting on Friday, the Anglican committee members are hopeful that they would have formulated a solution on the way forth in the Anglican Church and present their ideas next month at an Archbishops' meeting in Tanzania.