The Archbishop of Canterbury is to evaluate a statement in which episcopal leaders in the US agree to "exercise restraint" in approving another gay bishop and not to authorise prayers to bless same-sex couples.
The statement came as church leaders were under pressure to reduce their support for gay clergy in order to prevent a split in the international Anglican family.
The words released yesterday mostly reiterated earlier pledges by the church, and it will not be known for some time whether the bishops went far enough to help prevent an Anglican schism.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said she believed the document met the requests of Anglican leaders. But some Episcopal conservatives immediately rejected the statement as too weak, because it does not bar gays and lesbians from becoming bishops.
Bishops released the statement in the final hour of an intense six-day meeting in New Orleans and at a crucial moment in the long-running Anglican debate over how the Bible should be interpreted.
The 77-million-member world Anglican Communion has been splintering since 2003, when Episcopalians consecrated the first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
The Episcopal Church is the Anglican body in the United States. Anglican leaders had set a Sunday deadline for the Americans to pledge unequivocally not to consecrate another gay bishop or approve an official prayer service for same-sex couples.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Anglican spiritual leader, took the unusual step of attending the meeting for the first two days, pushing bishops to make concessions for the sake of unity.