At the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, a group of bishops, representing a wide range of perspectives and backgrounds, met for four days at the Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, New York. The bishops present were:

The Rt Revd Simon Chiwanga Bishop of Mpwapwa

The Rt Revd Terence Finlay Bishop of Toronto

The Most Revd Frank Griswold Presiding Bishop and Primate, The Episcopal Church, USA

The Rt Revd Josiah Idowu-Fearon Bishop of Kaduna

The Rt Revd Chilton Knudsen Bishop of Maine

The Most Revd Peter Kwong Archbishop of Hong Kong

The Most Revd Glauco Soares de Lima Primate of Brazil and Bishop of Sao Paulo

The Rt Revd John Lipscomb Bishop of Southwest Florida

The Rt Revd Michael Scott-Joynt Bishop of Winchester

The Rt Revd Peter Watson Bishop of South Sydney

Within the atmosphere of prayer and through participation in the monastic rhythms of the Holy Cross community, the bishops entered into a process of structured dialogue on homosexuality within the larger context of human sexuality.

With the guidance of experienced facilitators, trust and mutual respect grew as the bishops considered convergent (shared) and divergent (differing) points of view. The process of dialogue fostered a deep sense of the Spirit's presence in the midst of diverse convictions.

The consultation demonstrated the great value of facilitated dialogue. The experience of Christ in each other during the four days' dialogue, fostered great hope for the possibilities of similar dialogue in all parts of the Anglican Communion. The experience of the West Park consultation called to mind words from the Report of the Lambeth Conference:

"The challenge to our Church is to maintain its unity while we seek, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to discern the way of Christ for the world today with respect to human sexuality. To do so will require sacrifice, trust, and charity towards one another, remembering that ultimately the identity of each person is defined in Christ (section 1, Report)."