If The Episcopal Church does not respond affirmatively to the primates’ February communiqué by the Sept. 30 deadline, as many as 60 percent of the Church of England's 114 bishops would share a sense of solidarity if bishops from the Global South declined to attend, according to the Rt. Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, Bishop of Winchester.

In an interview with The Church of Ireland Gazette, Bishop Scott-Joynt said convictions among the British House of Bishops are strongly held on both sides of the issue. If all bishops from The Episcopal Church are not given the chance to participate, he estimated the other 40 percent of the Church of England bishops would consider staying away in solidarity with The Episcopal Church.

Bishop Scott-Joynt said most bishops on both sides of the issue would probably be constrained from boycotting out of loyalty to Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who personally decides who is invited. Archbishop Williams has set a July 31 deadline for bishops to reply to their Lambeth Conference invitations.

In a follow-up interview with a reporter for the Times of London, Bishop Scott-Joynt elaborated on his comments in the Gazette, revealing that he has not sent his own reply and declining to reveal his intentions.

“I shall have responded to the Archbishop’s invitation by the end of the month," he said. "I am not saying more or less than that. The point I was making was that [the bishops] are having to think about it.”

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