LONDON – The liberal leadership of the American Anglican Church is preparing for an unexpected climbdown over homosexuality that could save the worldwide Church from schism.

Three years after consecrating Anglicanism’s first openly gay bishop, the American bishops appear close to bowing to international pressure and shelving their radical agenda at a conference in June. Leaks from a private meeting of the bishops in North Carolina last week suggest that they will “repent” for plunging Anglicanism into turmoil by consecrating Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire.

They are also likely to come into line with the rest of the worldwide Church by backing an indefinite ban on the blessing of gay “marriages” and they may even apologize for having authorized them in the past. Though they appear reluctant to impose an outright bar on the future election of gay bishops, the majority seem willing to back a call for dioceses to exercise “very considerable caution” before doing so.

According to several bishops who attended last week’s meeting, they would block the consecration of a second openly homosexual bishop if the diocese of California elects a lesbian or a gay man in May. Three of the seven candidates for the high-profile post have gay partners.

Until now, the majority of American bishops have refused to compromise their liberal ideals, despite the fury of conservatives from Africa and Asia and appeals by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams.

They have argued that the equal treatment of homosexuals is a matter of justice which overrides the Church’s official teaching that active homosexual clergy and gay “marriage” are contrary to the Scriptures.

However, it appears that the threat of expulsion from the worldwide Church has concentrated their minds, and they may concede that they should not have acted unilaterally.

Their potential U-turn, which risks infuriating the influential gay rights lobby in America, has been outlined in an unofficial e-mail circulated last week by the Bishop of Arizona, the Reverend Kirk Smith. He disclosed that the bishops had been briefed about a series of resolutions to be presented to a meeting in June of the American Episcopal Church’s General Convention, its equivalent of the Church of England’s General Synod.