The Anglican Church of Australia declined to take decisive action on a number of potentially divisive issues, but observers at its triennial General Synod meeting, which ended July 29 in Brisbane, say the church may be headed toward some form of realignment.

The Rev. Canon Bruce Ballantine-Jones said the Anglican Church of Australia is in the process of becoming two churches. He is the president of the Anglican Church League in the Diocese of Sydney, the province's largest and arguably its most conservative.

"People now feel that, rather than fighting to keep everybody tightly together or seeing it purely as a matter of winning or losing, it is time for us to renegotiate the basis of our association so that there's a lot more freedom," he told Anglican Media Sydney.

In his address to the synod, the Most Rev. Peter Carnley, Archbishop of Perth and Primate, warned the gathering about what was at stake if the drift continued. Archbishop Carnley pointed out that to deny the importance of unity, to cause division in the church, or to turn one's back on the communion of the church, would not just be a sign of human failure.

"It is a form of infidelity," he said, "a deliberate turning away from the communion of God."

Synod occupied much of its time debating human sexuality, whether to permit women to be ordained as bishops, and whether lay members of the church should be allowed to celebrate the Eucharist.

On the issue of women bishops, synod representatives again put off decisive action until at least 2004. Both opponents and proponents of women bishops said the additional time is unlikely to change strongly held opinions. If the bill is not passed in 2004, a number of proponents have said individual dioceses will go ahead with consecrations anyway.

"The legal reality is that there is no reason why a diocese can't bring a woman bishop from overseas and appoint her here ... or even, some would say, appoint a woman as a bishop now. Although that would be unfortunate if it happened ... I'm saying that if we can't do something in the next three years, then yes, it will be hell for leather," Muriel Porter told Australia's The Age. Ms. Porter introduced the legislation on women bishops to the synod floor.

Since 1992, the Province of Australia has left the ordination of women as priests up to individual dioceses. About 25 percent of the province's 23 dioceses still remain opposed to the practice.

The Province of Australia, one of 37 in the 80-million member international Anglican Communion, has approximately 4 million baptized members.

The Anglican Communion News Service contributed to this report.