Anglicans still divided on same-sex unions

By Dave Opiyo, Sunday Nation

Kenyan Anglican bishops will, together with a section of their fellow Africans, skip next month’s Lambeth Conference in Britain in the latest twist in the controversy over same-sex marriages that has threatened to tear the 77 million-member church apart. The bishops, their spouses and other senior clergy will instead attend the Global Anglican Future Conference in Jerusalem that runs from June 22 to 29, said Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi.

The decision to boycott the Lambeth conference was due, he said, to the church’s failure to resolve the issue of the ordination of homosexual bishops within the Episcopal Church in the United States.

The worldwide Anglican Communion has been the focus of considerable controversy with its ordination of openly gay clergy, including the bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson, sparking outrage from some of its members.

“We have made other plans to travel to Jerusalem to reflect on how best we can do the work of the Lord,” Archbishop Nzimbi said by telephone on Saturday.

The cleric said that for the past decade he and his African colleagues had tried to persuade the church’s leadership to revoke the ordination of gay bishops as the actions was not compatible with the Scripture. He said that delegations from Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria and Tanzania as well as some from Europe and Asia will not be attending the conference. The Lambeth Conference, scheduled for July 21 to August 2, is a gathering of Anglican bishops that takes place in Canterbury, England every 10 years.

Pentecost letter

However, last month Anglican Church sources said that 620 of a possible 880 bishops in the Anglican Communion have confirmed they would attend the conference. The officials say that only Nigeria with 141 bishops and Uganda with 31 bishops have said they will definitely not be there, leaving 88 bishops unaccounted for. Some bishops who have been critical of the Anglican leadership under Dr Rowan Williams have become more conciliatory towards the conference following a Pentecost letter published by the Archbishop of Canterbury on May 12, that read in part, “We are asking for the fire of the Spirit to come upon us and deepen our sense that we are answerable to and for each other.”