This week’s Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney is likely to see the divide in the Anglican Church on full public parade again, but it may be overshadowed by a move against the real bete noire of the progressives in the church, Ross Davies, Bishop of The Murray in South Australia.

Bishop Davies has defied his fellow Bishops by granting licences to officiate to Priests aligned with the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC). A number of those he has granted licenses to are ex-Anglican priests who either resigned, or were removed, because of their opposition to women priests and bishops and issues relating to the sanctioning of same s-x marriages.

The Traditional Anglican Communion is not recognised by the Anglican Church, and while the church is powerless to stop Davies licensing TAC clergy, his own future is now in some doubt.

Anglican Primate Phillip Aspinall, and the Archbishop of Adelaide, Jeff Driver, are currently considering a submission from parishioners in The Murray Diocese calling for a tribunal top be set up to determine whether Davies is fill to remain a Bishop.

The complaint centres around how Bishop Davies handled – or failed to handle – allegations against the second in charge in his Diocese, Fr Peter Coote.

The Australian alleged some months ago Bishop Davies had not acted adequately on allegations made some years ago of s-xual misconduct involving Fr Coote made by three women parishioners.

After the article appeared the Bishop was forced to stand Fr Coote down, but the parishioners want a tribunal set up to decide if Davies should be stripped of his holy orders, and allege he has a history of “bullying, verbal and emotional abuse” of his opponents in the Diocese.

Davies supporters in the church’s ultra conservative dioceses will no doubt claim he is being pursued because of his licensing of TAC clergy, and his stance against the “liberal” church, but the seriousness of the allegations against Fr Coote mean that the prospect of his removal by a tribunal cannot be ruled out.

With the National Anglican Synod due to consider women bishops and other controversial issues next month, any decision to put Bishop Davies before a tribunal – a decision in the hands of two of the more “liberal” Archbishops in the Church – would be seen by the conservatives as highly provocative.

But, on the face of it, justifiable!