By TAMARA McKENZIE,Assistant News Editor,tamara@nasguard.com

It would be "scandalous" if gay Anglican Bishop Canon V. Gene Robinson appeared at the upcoming Anglican Lambeth Conference in July with his partner, Archbishop Drexel Gomez told The Guardian Monday.

The upcoming conference, held once every 10 years, is expected to see the coming together of a number of Anglican Bishops at the University of Kent in Canterbury. But because of the on-going schism within the Communion as a result of the ordination of Robinson almost six years ago, Gomez said some provinces recently indicated they would not attend the upcoming conclave.

"There are at least four provinces in Africa that have either said they will not attend or are still considering if they will attend, but there are three who said they will definitely not be attending," Archbishop Gomez said in a telephone interview yesterday.

The Communion is comprised of 38 independent and autonomous provinces, sharing a common faith, worship, fellowship and witness.

In the meantime, Gomez — who heads the Covenant Design Group, a committee that is presently seeking a compromise on several issues within the Anglican Communion including the appointment of Robinson — said Anglicans in The Bahamas would continue to carry on their work locally despite the differences that exist within the Communion.

"It is too difficult to say if there will be any headway at this upcoming conference but what will happen is it will be the first time that the vast majority of Bishops as leaders of the church will be in one place and be able to talk about these issues. So far we have just had small meetings and regional meetings but this will be the first international meeting at which most of the churches will be represented," Gomez said.

In 2003, the Episcopal Church in the United States made two decisions at its convention, which included the confirmation and election of Canon Robinson, an openly gay person who had 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 blessings 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 actions.

Also 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 a break in the Communion among many of the provinces.

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. It also called for the 38 churches of the Anglican Communion to openly express support for the church's current teachings by signing a covenant.

In 2005, Archbishop Gomez was appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams, to head the Covenant Design Group to examine the schism in the Anglican Communion as a result of events in the United States that came to a head after the appointment of Robinson. The nine-member group is attempting to establish the framework for a covenant that would direct the 38 autonomous provinces that comprise the global Anglican Church.

Gomez told The Guardian yesterday that the Covenant Design Group would be presenting a document at the July Lambeth conference which would put forth a framework for all Anglican provinces to sign and state whether they are prepared to be bound by certain rules and principles.

Gomez said the Anglican Church's stance in The Bahamas following the consecration of the gay Bishop has not changed, and it is still against such practices.

"We do not support that [homosexuality] and we hold that homosexual practices is contrary to the teaching of the Bible and we still maintain that," Gomez said, adding that the decision to ordain Robinson has led to other "controversies" in the Communion regarding sexuality and church authority.

Last year, Anglicans from around the world converged in the capital for formal discussions at a five-day meeting to address, among other issues, the election and consecration of the homosexual Episcopal Bishop. Committee members visited from the United States and as far as Africa, Europe and South-East Asia.