"The nearly two years since General Convention 2003 should have taught us that a political "win" does not guarantee any kind of victory for our church. ECUSA's own statistics show giving for the first full year since the consecration of an overtly gay bishop to be off by 12% and membership down by 36,000 people.

Similarly, the average Sunday worship attendance is down by 24,000 and the bishop of Newark is talking about closing up to 40 churches." Wetzel continued, "Contrast that with the 50 new parishes begun in the last year which are Anglican, not Episcopalian. If this continues for another decade, we'll be fighting over a corpse. Next summer's General Convention will determine if the situation is as irreconcilable as it appears."

Wetzel continued, "In the past week, Griswold has portrayed the primates as naïve, hapless "pawns" of a sinister, devious bunch of unethical, evil American conservatives. To the contrary, the primates from the two-thirds world are unashamedly Christian, well educated - especially in the Scriptures - and unwilling to compromise, even for American money.

All official parties in this struggle, the primates, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the ECUSA House of Bishops now seem to share a realistic assessment of the various positions and personalities contributing to the crisis. Many of us hoped that this year's primates' meeting would decisively bring our differences to a conclusion.

That is clearly not the case. The good news is that we have arrived at the end of the beginning cycle: our differences are clearly stated and widely understood. I hope that within ECUSA, we can now have discussions without rancor that will enable us to do no further harm to the Church we both claim to love."

Anglicans United has been a major force operating on the conservative end of the spectrum within the Episcopal Church since 1987. Our work with archbishops, bishops, priests, deacons and laity around the world promotes orthodox theology, the Authority of Scripture and sound Biblical teaching.

The Anglican Voice newsletter and Latimer Press continue to enhance Christian Ed efforts on 3 continents and our networking conferences continue to bring together the scattered pieces of Anglicanism on the American shore.

The Rev. Todd H. Wetzel id Executive Director of Anglicans United