Anglicans furious at former archbishop The Age

More than 100 leading Australian Anglicans have accused the previous Archbishop of Canterbury of disloyalty, as divisions over homosexuality in the worldwide Anglican church deepen.

The Anglicans have written to Dr George Carey, the previous spiritual head of the church, accusing him of undermining his successor, Archbishop Rowan Williams, and offering himself as an alternative leader.

Dr Carey recently confirmed 300 American evangelicals who do not accept their own bishops because they supported the election of an openly gay priest as Bishop of New Hampshire.

The letter is signed by 120 Anglicans, including four Australian bishops, former Victorian deputy premier Robert Fordham - one of only nine laypeople on the world Anglican Consultative Council - and the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, David Richardson. Nearly half the signatories are from Melbourne.

It says Dr Carey's actions in retirement are discourteous to Dr Williams as he tries to hold the worldwide church together at a difficult time. "You appear to be offering yourself as an alternative leader. The Archbishop of Canterbury deserves our respect and support, not the disloyalty which you currently display," the letter says.

The church seems to be on borrowed time over gay bishops. But in a fortnight the diocese of California will elect a bishop from a field of six, three of whom are openly gay.

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