The prospect of a split hung over the heads of the last two archbishops—Lord George Carey, a steely conservative, and Rowan Williams, an intellectual with a more liberal bent, both of whom strove for unity in a fractious church. Williams disappointed progressive Anglicans by not pushing faster on issues including the consecration of female bishops in the Church of England. Meanwhile, the American church was sliding ever farther to the left, in 2003 consecrating V. Gene Robinson, an openly gay priest, as a bishop in New Hampshire. Then, in 2006, with the question of female bishops still dividing much of the church, the Episcopal Church elected Katharine Jefferts Schori to its top position of presiding bishop, making her the first female primate in the Anglican Communion. (By the time of the conference, in January, the U.S. church will have a new primate, Michael Curry, the first black presiding bishop.) In 2012, the Episcopal Church authorized a rite for same-sex unions short of marriage. At the same time, African bishops have begun taking ever-more-strident positions against homosexuality, including supporting laws that would criminalize it or make it punishable by death.

These changes led to acrimonious splits in the church. In the U.S., conservative parishes left the Episcopal Church, labeling themselves “Anglican.” At the same time, African branches of the church reacted strongly against the elevation of female clergy to leadership positions and the sanctioning of homosexuality. There’s been talk of schism in the church for years. Conservatives are upset that Canterbury hasn’t acted more strongly to rein in the Western churches, while liberals ended up disappointed in Williams, whom they found too accommodating of conservatives. In 2008, many traditionalist bishops skipped the Lambeth Conference, a once-per-decade gathering, and Welby has already announced an indefinite postponement of the next Lambeth Conference. The failure of the Church of England to approve female bishops late in Williams’s tenure, despite his support, left a bitter taste among progressives.

When Welby, a former oil executive-turned-clergyman, was named as the next archbishop in 2012, it was hoped that he could help bring reconciliation. Welby, who was bishop of Durham before his elevation, comes from the evangelical wing of the Church of England, the more conservative part of the church. The archbishop personally opposes gay marriage, though he has also said, “We must have no truck with any form of homophobia.” (Seven months into his tenure, Parliament passed legislation to legalize same-sex marriage in England and Wales.) In late 2014, the Church of England approved female bishops.

In the first years of his term, Welby sought to build ties with African church leaders to forestall schism. If these reports are correct, he seems to have decided that even if the Communion could be duct-taped together for now, a more permanent solution was going to have to come eventually.