Archbishop's US Trip to Ease Anglican Gay Tensions

Christian Today Australia
Saturday, 1 September 2007

The Archbishop of Canterbury is scheduled to travel to the US in September to ease the growing tensions within the Anglican Communion over gay bishops.

With the threat of a schism hanging over the worldwide body since the consecration of the first openly gay bishop Gene Robinson to the US Episcopal Church in 2003, Dr Rowan Williams has been desperately trying to reconcile liberals and conservatives who remain at loggerheads over homosexuality.

Over the past week, developments have further angered those on the traditional side of Scripture, after the openly lesbian Episcopalian priest Rev Tracy Lind was listed among five nominees for next the Bishop of the Chicago Diocese within the US Episcopal Church.

This week has also seen two American bishops appointed by the Anglican Church in Kenya to guide conservative US Anglicans who have turned to the Kenyan Church for oversight.

Dr Williams will fly to New Orleans later this month to meet Episcopal bishops and discuss previous demands that the US Church withhold from allowing any other openly gay clergy consecrations until the entire Communion agrees upon a precise stance.

If the US Church does not agree to these demands by 30 September, it will be extremely difficult for the Archbishop to halt some serious long-term divisions within the Communion.

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Sydney Archbishop Jensen bans John Shelby Spong

By Greg Roberts
August 14, 2007
The Australian

Sydney Archbishop Peter Jensen has taken the extraordinary step of banning John Shelby Spong, a fellow member of the Anglican communion who arrives in Sydney this morning, from churches in his diocese.

By contrast, Anglican Primate Phillip Aspinall has invited Bishop Spong, a leader of the church's liberal wing, to deliver two sermons in Brisbane's St John's Cathedral.

The retired Episcopal bishop of Newark, New Jersey, Bishop Spong will also give a public lecture at St Aidan's Anglican Girls School in Brisbane.

At the direction of Dr Jensen, the current edition of the Sydney diocese's newspaper, Southern Cross, has devoted two pages to an attack on Bishop Spong and his new book, Jesus for the Non-Religious.

The book questions biblical references to the nature of the birth of Jesus Christ, his ability to perform miracles and the Resurrection.

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Anglicans advertise for foster gay couples

11th July 2007 17:32
PinkNews.co.uk writer

A branch of the urban mission and welfare service of the Anglican Church in Australia has inadvertently become involved in the political row about gay parenting by taking an advert in a gay publication.

Teenshare, part of Anglicare, has taken the ad in monthly gay paper OUT in Perth to encourage gay and lesbian couples to foster children aged 12 to 17.

Last month the news that a gay male couple had adopted a baby was welcomed by lawmakers in the state of Western Australia but church groups and conservative politicians have criticised the decision.

It was the first same-sex couple adoption in Australia.

It is understood the child's mother was consulted and approved of the adoption of her child by two gay men.

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Anglican Church In Australia 'Not Safe' For Gay Christians

by Benedict Brook
Sydney Star Observer
Published 5 Arp 2007

The Anglican Church in Australia has admitted it may "not be a safe place" for gay and lesbian Christians and that insensitive Church leaders have made gay parishioners "too vulnerable to speak publicly".

The admission comes in an interim report documenting the Listening Process – a drive by the global Anglican communion to understand the needs of gay and lesbian members of its community.

However, far from listening, the report compiled by Dr Muriel Porter, a member of the governing body of the Anglican Church in Australia, says some sections of the Australian Anglican Church have actively ignored the views of gay and lesbian parishioners.

According to the report, it has been almost impossible to discern the experiences of gay clergy and lay people because "the processes involved did not enable this kind of listening, or because gay people felt too vulnerable to speak publicly. In some cases, responses to gay people who attempt to communicate their experiences have been insensitive."

Porter said attempts by diocese to listen to the views of gay and lesbian people were often a "scarifying experience" and that one person had told her the listening process "became a time of shouting rather than listening"...

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CNNNN | Holy Homosexuals

Don't miss this TV "interview" with Dr. Peter Jensen, Archbishop of Sydney, by Australia's Chaser Non-Stop News Network. From what I gather, this originally ran on 23 October 2003.

Click here to watch it on YouTube.