a major political incident in 1996, when the annual Orangemen's march was banned from returning to the centre of Portadown via the Nationalist Garvaghy road after attending worship at Drumcree parish church. This decision was made by the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and not the Northern Ireland parades commission who at this time did not have authority to prohibit parades existing only as an advisory body. Public unrest and violence escalated and over the next three summers the situation was unstable with other parades coming under first police and later commission sanction. Archbishop Eames, as diocesan bishop and civil leader found himself immersed in the search for a resolution to the issue. Within the wider Church of Ireland there was unease as it is a broad church in theology and politics and has within its congregations nationalists in the south and unionists in the north. Eames, along with the rector of Drumcree, had to navigate this wider political and social controversy and sought political assistance for his efforts to diffuse tension. Some bishops in the Republic of Ireland called for Eames to close the parish church. Notable among these was Bishop John Neill who later became Archbishop of Dublin. Eames refused to do so, believing this action could have precipitated greater unrest and possibly bloodshed. Eames described the Drumcree controversy as his "own personal Calvary". Anglicanism's "troubleshooter" Chairman of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Commission on "Communion and Women in the Episcopate", 1988–89. Chairman of the Inter-Anglican Theological and Doctrinal Commission, 1991. Chairman of the Lambeth Commission on Communion, 2003–2004. Eames was, for many years, a significant figure within the general Anglican Communion. In 2003, the self-styled 'divine optimist' was appointed Chairman of the Lambeth Commission on Communion, which examined significant challenges to unity in the Anglican Communion. The Commission published its report ("the Windsor Report") on 18 October 2004. Retirement and succession At the Church of Ireland General Synod in 2006 he announced his intention to retire on 31 December 2006. Church law permitted him to continue as primate until the age of 75 but he resigned, in good health, at the age of 69. A tribute to him in The Irish Times, assessing his years of public ministry and likely legacy noted that "behind the warm smile, many know there is a man of steel." On 10 January 2007, the 11 serving bishops of the Church