The Anglican Communion is a world-wide organisation of Anglican Churches.
Technically it is not possible to speak of the Anglican Church as a whole; it is better referred to as the Anglican Communion, which consists of national churches in communion with the Church of England - some of these churches are known as Anglican, others call themselves Episcopalian. The ultimate head of any Anglican church is the Primate, head of the church at the national level. There are also a number of denominations which are not in communion with the Church of England but consider themselves Anglican in doctrine, such as the Free Church of England and the Anglican Province of Christ the King.
OnAugust 3, 2003 clergy and lay people of the Episcopal Church, the American province of the communion, voted by a comfortable margin to confirm the appointment of an openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson. The vote from the bishops' collegium on approving his ordination, was delayed due to last minute independent allegations of misconduct; one allegation involves a link to a pornographic web site from the web site of an organization that Robinson co-founded and supports, the other involves an alleged instance of inappropriate touching. A number of Anglican provinces, including the largest, the Church of Nigeria, have threatened to leave the communion if a homosexual is allowed to be ordained as a bishop.
"The Episcopal [or Anglican] Church has a long tradition, and over that time has inherited, created, or retained many words that might not be familiar...These special terms, though confusing at first, are part of [the church's] rich heritage."
