Church considers £1.2m shortfall

Version 0 of 1.

A Â£1.2m deficit in the recent Lambeth Conference's budget will be discussed on Monday by the committee that manages the Church of England's assets.

A boycott of the conference by more than a quarter of bishops over the issue of homosexuality is thought to be partly responsible.

The Church's main executive body, the Archbishops' Council, has already agreed to pay half the shortfall.

Now Church Commissioners will decide how to meet the rest of the costs.

The once-a-decade conference held in Canterbury finished on 3 August.

Church split

The conference brought together most of the bishops of the Anglican Communion, and occupied a substantial portion of the University of Kent.

The company set up to run the conference has acknowledged that it cannot be confident of quickly making up the budget shortfall.

About 200 traditionalist bishops boycotted the conference, primarily over the American Church's liberal approach to gay clergy and same-sex unions.

A split has been threatened in the Church since the ordination of the openly gay Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire in the US in 2003.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, said on the last day of the conference that the "pieces are on the board" to resolve the row.