Wales breaches: Archbishop Barry Morgan clashes with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the every-day-looking-more-conservative-by-comparison Rowan Williams and says the Church of England could / should permit gay bishops. The Telegraph reports:

The Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, told The Sunday Telegraph that practising homosexuals should not be barred from becoming bishops.
He accused conservative Anglicans of being “exclusive” and narrow-minded in their opposition to gay clerics.
His comments, which come on the eve of the Lambeth Conference – the Anglican communion’s ten-yearly gathering of bishops – are set to inflame the bitter controversy over homosexuality.

Here’s the spin on that from Telegraph “Holy Smoke” blogger Damian Thompson:

Morgan is supposed to be an old friend of his fellow Welshman Dr Rowan Williams. Not after today, I suspect. For the leader of the Anglican Church in Wales is not only defying the Archbishop of Canterbury’s policy for the Anglican Communion. He is also rubbishing Rowan’s big idea for the Lambeth Conference – a “covenant” of agreed beliefs to be signed by all the bishops attending.

Thompson also has a great report on how liberal Roman Catholics in the U.K., fellow-traveling with C of E lefties, are trying to kibosh the idea of disaffected Anglicans heading for Rome en masse.

The Telegraph reports today that gay / civil-unioned (unionized? unificated? unified?) U.S. Episcopalian Bishop Gene Robinson – one of only two C of E leaders not invited to Lambeth – is blasting Williams:

Bishop Robinson, who was interrupted by a protestor during a sermon in London on Sunday night, described the decision to bar him from the Lambeth conference as a “mistake”, adding that it meant the only openly-gay voice would be missing from the event.
Asked if this meant that some of the bishops attending were gay, but not open about it, he said: “Absolutely.”
He added: “I do not think that there is a person around and breathing that believes that I’m the first gay bishop, just the first talking honestly about it.”
Bishop Robinson said that some bishops had partners and that it had been accepted as an open secret.
Asked if this meant that the Archbishop of Canterbury was being hypocritical in not inviting an openly-gay man but at the same time allowing closet homosexuals, Mr Robinson said: “When Rowan Williams was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, we were delighted because he had been very vocal in his support of the full inclusion of gay and lesbian people in the church.
“It has certainly been a disappointment that he has been seen to seem to us to bend over backwards to, some would say, listen, others would say appease, the most conservative elements of our church.”

Robinson finds a very high-profile ally in South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Stateside, a major eruption is in the offing when the Lambeth Conference ends. So reports the London Times:

The Times has learnt that the crisis is likely to worsen, whatever is decided at the conference, because the Episcopal Church of the U.S. plans to overturn its pledge not to consecrate any more openly gay or lesbian bishops.
The U.S. church, which will dominate the conference with 125 bishops attending, is expected then to elect rapidly and consecrate a further five or six such bishops.