Leaders of 100,000 disaffected former Episcopalians will unveil a proposed constitution for a new 39th province of the Anglican Communion at a Dec. 3 ceremony at the evangelical Wheaton College in west Chicago.
The new province, which will contain significant portions of four breakaway Episcopal dioceses plus about two dozen churches in Northern Virginia, will be launched in early 2009.
"This is a huge step," said Anglican Bishop Martyn Minns, one of the leaders who will sign the constitution as the head of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America.
The divide will continue:
Copies of the constitution will be handed out at the Chicago meeting. Bishop Minns said the member groups have reached a tentative agreement on ordaining women as priests, which some of the member groups oppose.
"We are working within the integrity of both views and respecting them and saying that's where the church is right now," he said.
And a threat to +++Williams
The Canterbury archbishop is in a tough spot no matter what he does, Bishop Minns said.
"If he recognizes us, he will incur the wrath of [the Episcopal Church] and if he does not, he will incur the wrath of other people," he said.
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