[B]ishops and congregations not associated with the Network will soon rush to join. . . Woe to the clergy and the congregations that don't join the Network, for they will be removed from the Network dioceses and left dangling, says that bishop.

Nor was I surprised by the general reverence of the press. For about a decade the overwhelming majority of religious comment has come from Roman Catholics. One can instantly think of a large handful of Catholic columnists (Paul Johnson, Charles Moore, Libby Purves, Christina Odone, William Rees-Mogg) - can you name a single one who is noticeably Anglican? There are also plenty of dogmatic atheist columnists, of course, and their daring disbelief has been on display.

There may be many other things about homosexuality in matters of pastoral care, social concern and church order up for discussion, but according to Lambeth, the compatibility of homosexual activity with the Word of God is not one of them.

Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has the sort of beard to which we should all aspire. It does not, perhaps, possess the wilful abandon of the Greek Orthodox beard (a church for which he nonetheless has some theological affection), nor the unbending certainty of the fundamentalist Muslim beard.