UGANDA: Archbishop Orombi questions Lambeth Conference participation

By Matthew Davies, May 30, 2007

[Episcopal News Service] Anglican Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi issued a statement May 30 indicating that the House of Bishops of the Church of Uganda will not attend the 2008 Lambeth Conference of Bishops, according to reports.

Orombi's statement comes in response to the recent announcement that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, had invited all but a "small number of bishops" to the 2008 Lambeth Conference, due to be held July 16-August 4, 2008 at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England.

Among those Williams did not invite were Bishops V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire; Nolbert Kunonga of Harare, Zimbabwe; and Martyn Minns of the Church of Nigeria-founded Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA).

In his statement, Orombi said that "all the American Bishops who consented to, participated in, and have continued to support the consecration as bishop of a man living in a homosexual relationship have been invited to the Lambeth Conference."

He recalled a December 9, 2006 meeting of Uganda's House of Bishops, which resolved "unanimously to support the CAPA Road to Lambeth statement," commissioned in 2006 by the Primates of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA), which states, in part, "We will definitely not attend any Lambeth Conference to which the violators of the Lambeth Resolution are also invited as participants or observers.'"

"These are Bishops who have violated the Lambeth Resolution 1.10, which rejects 'homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture' and 'cannot advise the legitimising or blessing of same sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same gender unions,'" Orombi's statement continued. "Accordingly, the House of Bishops of the Church of Uganda stands by its resolve to uphold the Road to Lambeth."

Orombi is the second Anglican Primate who has indicated in recent days that their province's bishops may not attend the Lambeth Conference.

Click here to read the rest.