That seems to be what the Archbishop of Canterbury is mulling for his fractured, increasingly splintered church — an idea that sounds, frankly, schizophrenic.

From the New York Times:

Confronting rifts among his followers over gay clergy and same-sex unions, Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, said the world’s 77 million Anglicans faced the possibility of their church dividing into a “two-track’ model” embracing “two styles of being Anglican.”

The formula could avert a formal breach between liberals and conservatives but imply significant changes in the relationship between the global Anglican Communion and American Episcopalians following their decisions this month to open the door to ordaining openly gay bishops and to start the process of developing rites for same-sex marriages.

But, Archbishop Williams insisted, the issue should not be debated “in apocalyptic terms of schism and excommunication but plainly as what they are — two styles of being Anglican.”

In a lengthy message published Monday on his Web site, the archbishop offered a detailed and nuanced response to events at the Episcopalian convention in Anaheim, Calif., earlier this month when gay-rights advocates in the United States chalked up major victories over conservatives.

The developments were seen by both liberals and conservatives as likely turning points in the history of the divided Episcopal Church, reflecting the profound rifts over sexual issues within Anglicanism — the world’s third largest network of Christian churches after the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. The differences have crystallized around the Episcopal Church’s consent in 2003 to the consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson, the church’s first openly gay bishop, as the bishop of New Hampshire.

Before the Anaheim convention, some Anglicans had been urging the Episcopalians to agree to a moratorium on the election of gay bishops and had sought to prevent the development of a liturgy to bless same-sex couples. The archbishop of Canterbury is the spiritual head of the Anglican Communion, which is composed of 38 ‘provinces’ worldwide. The Episcopal Church, which claims about 2.3 million members, is the official branch of the Anglican Communion in the United States.

You can read the rest of the Times piece here. The archbishop’s message, meantime, is right here.