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The ordination of a gay bishop is to be justified to Anglican leaders at a meeting tomorrow.

The Primate of the US Anglican Church, the Most Rev Frank Griswold, is to deliver a report on why the Church was justified to ordain an openly gay man, Gene Robinson, as Bishop of New Hampshire.

The Windsor Report, which looked into the issue last year, asked the American church to explain how a person living in the same gender union may be considered eligible to lead the flock of Christ.

The Canadian Primate, the Archbishop of Montreal, the Most Rev Andrew Hutchinson, will also discuss the actions of the New Westminster Diocese in authorising same-sex blessings.

The Americans have expressed regret for the effects of their actions but are not expected to express repentance.

The views will be expressed in Nottingham, where the Anglican Consultative Council is meeting.

Giving his Presidential Address at the meeting today, Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams said media attention was likely to focus on a conservative-liberal split.

Dr Williams said: “Those who have criticised the blessing of same-sex partnerships have been trying, I think, to say that we cannot change what we say about marriage without seriously upsetting what you might call the ecology of our teaching, the balance of how we show and speak of God.

“They would say that blessing same-sex unions has this effect, and that without such blessing people living in such unions are at least in tension with the common language of the Church.”

He said two issues needed study – the nature of a holy and Christ-like life for someone with consistent homosexual desires and the appropriate discipline to be applied to the personal life of the pastor in the Church.

Dr Williams said: “The last Lambeth Conference concluded that the reasons just outlined made it impossible to justify a change in existing practice and discipline; and the majority voice of the Communion holds firmly to this decision.

“It is possible to uphold this decision and still say that there are many unanswered questions in the theological picture just outlined, and that a full discussion of these needs a far more careful attention to how homosexual people see themselves and their relations.”

He continued: “If it is difficult for us to stand together at the Lord’s Table as we might wish, can we continue to be friends? Its sounds very weak; but I think it is actually of great significance.”