Anglicans: Lambeth exceeded expectations, says WilliamsThe Archbishop of Canterbury The Archbishop of Canterbury is the main leader of the Church of England and by convention is also recognised as head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The current archbishop is Rowan Williams. yesterday hailed the recent Lambeth conference Lambeth Conference, convocation at Lambeth Palace, London, that brings together all the bishops in the Anglican Communion. It meets about every 10 years at the invitation of the archbishop of Canterbury and is the principal instrument of international Anglican life, as a success while at the same time acknowledging the difficulties that lie ahead for the Anglican Communion Anglican Communion, the body of churches in all parts of the world that are in communion with the Church of England (see England, Church of). The communion is composed of regional churches, provinces, and separate dioceses bound together by mutual loyalty as . In a 1,500-word pastoral letter Pastoral letters are open letters addressed by a bishop to the clergy or laity of his diocese, or to both, containing either general admonition, instruction or consolation, or directions for behaviour in particular circumstances. , sent by post over the bank holiday weekend to the 650 bishops who were in Canterbury last month for the once-a-decade meeting, the Right Rev Rowan Williams  The current Anglicanism Collaboration of the Month isBook of Common Prayer The next collaboration will be selected on September 30, 2007. (Vote here) set out his personal reflections on the 17-day summit. He wrote that Lambeth had succeeded "to a remarkable degree, more than most people expected" in allowing all of the bishops to be heard. There was no doubt that nearly all those attending wanted the Communion to stay together. The conference, Lambeth 2008, was designed to maintain unity in the face of global rifts over the ordination of gay bishops, blessings of same-sex unions and cross-border interventions. About 230 bishops, mostly from Uganda, Nigeria and Kenya, boycotted the event. Many of these absentees were at the launch of a breakaway movement, the Global Anglican Future Conference, which is aimed at traditionalists. Williams also had to deal with discontent at home over the decision to ordain ORDAIN. To ordain is to make an ordinance, to enact a law. 2. In the constitution of the United States, the preamble. declares that the people "do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America. women as bishops with no special measures for objectors, and he arrived in Canterbury bruised by a divisive meeting of the general synod. Williams uses the letter to illustrate the Communion's common goals. It also reiterates the official position on homosexuality - which is that it is incompatible with Scripture - and notes that "premature" or "unilateral" local change is "risky and divisive". 
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