He also said that Australia is likely to have women bishops in less than two years, remarking that theological objections to the innovation "don't amount to much."

It was bad enough that Archbishop Williams chose a liberal not known for sensitivity to orthodox believers to head the Panel of Reference, or that the Panel so strongly urged by the primates has yet to make any impact in facilitating alternate episcopal oversight for faithful Anglicans in hostile situations.

But Dr. Carnley couldn't even maintain the illusion of impartiality. Should the Anglican Communion now tolerate a leader who telegraphs such considerable bias against the faithful Anglicans that he and the Panel are supposedly trying to help?

The way we see it, Dr. Carnley has fatally compromised his role as head of the Archbishop's Panel of Reference. We look for Anglican primates--who already have ample reason to complain that their expectations for the Panel have not been met--to demand his resignation and replacement with someone who will get the Panel moving on its task.

Carnley believes that a break-up of the Anglican Church over the liberal approach to homosexuality and women is unlikely.

But signs abound that the Anglican Communion is a ticking bomb. Carnley's remarks may very well have lit the fuse. The Archbishop of Canterbury must act or face the possibility that, by his inaction, the bomb might just go off.

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