WONG:
Some Anglican bishops boycotted the Lambeth conference in Canterbury yesterday. They are incensed at the appointment of a gay Bishop in the U.S.

Church officials said that 230 of the 880 bishops were staying away from the conference. It's being staged in the English cathedral city of Canterbury, spiritual home of the deeply divided church.

Liberal and conservative clergy have been brought to the brink of schism over the ordination in 2003 of the first openly gay bishop in the church's 450-year history.

Conservative Anglican leaders have pledged to form a council of bishops to provide an alternative to churches who they say are preaching a "false gospel" of sexual immorality.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams also faces another battle in the Church of England, the Anglican mother church. Plans to ordain women bishops have sparked threats of a mass walkout by conservative clergy.

Today the bishops head into a four-day biblical retreat away from the eyes of the media. They launch into a full conference agenda next week.