London: Anglican spiritual leader Justin Welby is set to lead a task force that will focus on rebuilding relationships after religious leaders temporarily restricted the role of the Episcopal Church in their global fellowship as a sanction over the US church's acceptance of gay marriage.
Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is expected on Friday to explain the decision to bar Episcopalians from any policy-setting positions in the Anglican Communion for three years. The decision avoided a permanent split in the 85 million-member communion, though it dismayed liberal Anglicans.
Welby's group will try to reconcile conflicting views over sexuality, "with the intention of restoration of relationship" with the Episcopal Church, the Anglican body in the United States.
Anglicans are the third-largest grouping of Christians in the world, behind Roman Catholics and the Orthodox.
