"THE Episcopal Church in the United States faces exclusion from the worldwide Anglican communion as punishment for ordaining a gay bishop..." says Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent for the London Times.

"The suspension of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America, known as Ecusa, from the 75-million strong Anglican Church is expected to be recommended at the final meeting of the Lambeth Commission in Windsor next week."

An outcry by dissidents in the American Church aided by Anglican churches in Africa, angered over the ordination of a gay bishop in New Hampshire, led a movement for "realignment."

The Times article said: "The commission's findings, which will not be published officially until October, will cause widespread dismay among liberals and Anglican-Catholics in the West, who will regard it as a sign of capitulation to the conservative evangelical lobby."