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Showing posts with label Archbishop Akinola. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Archbishop Akinola. Show all posts
Monday, September 24, 2007
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Bishop Robinson: 'I Heard God's Voice in Scripture'
09/11/2007
The Living Church
The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire, said Sept. 10 that he has been talking with members of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s staff and will attend next year’s Lambeth Conference in whatever capacity he is permitted as long as he is given a voice.
"I'm going to do my best to be at the table," Bishop Robinson said. "More than anything I wish I could be in the same room with Archbishop [Peter] Akinola [of Nigeria] so he could hear from my own lips how God has transformed me through scripture. The miracle is that I heard God's voice in scripture. I am fiercely committed to it. It literally saved my life."
Bishop Robinson delivered an address at the General Theological Seminary on reconciliation efforts on human sexuality within the Anglican Communion as part of the "Reconciliation at the Roundtable" conference Sept. 10-12 at the seminary's newly opened Desmond Tutu Center.
Click here to read the rest.
The Living Church
The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire, said Sept. 10 that he has been talking with members of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s staff and will attend next year’s Lambeth Conference in whatever capacity he is permitted as long as he is given a voice.
"I'm going to do my best to be at the table," Bishop Robinson said. "More than anything I wish I could be in the same room with Archbishop [Peter] Akinola [of Nigeria] so he could hear from my own lips how God has transformed me through scripture. The miracle is that I heard God's voice in scripture. I am fiercely committed to it. It literally saved my life."
Bishop Robinson delivered an address at the General Theological Seminary on reconciliation efforts on human sexuality within the Anglican Communion as part of the "Reconciliation at the Roundtable" conference Sept. 10-12 at the seminary's newly opened Desmond Tutu Center.
Click here to read the rest.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Which Bishop Is the Greater Danger?
This e-mail was sent to me and several others by Ben Lowe [bplowe1534@bellsouth.net]...
Dear friends,
I think we may be the victims of one of the greatest diversionary scams to hit the Anglican church in some time. When you listen to the interview here of Davis Mac-Iyalla at the end of the July 6 program you will wonder why the Communion is consumed with a compassionate gay bishop in the U.S. who preaches and lives the gospel instead of a primate who encourages violence toward a segment of the population that he believes doesn’t even exist. When you erase another person’s humanity you are acting so contrary to Christ that it is unimaginable to me that you would be permitted to lead any kind of church much less an archdiocese. And Mac-Iyalla’s words about Akinola are corroborated elsewhere; it’s just that to hear how they affect real human beings (yes, they are real) cuts deep into the soul and heart.
As someone who is currently researching and writing a book about an early Anglican bishop who was actually burned at the stake for standing true to the gospel, I am amazed at the contrast with today. There was a time when the church was not afraid to take action and deprive renegade prelates--who mock the gospel and damage the church’s mission--of their office and their platform to do harm. Perhaps it is time to stop playing defense and start to take action. No more rhetoric about accepting Akinola and others like him into the full body with no strings. This only serves to give their positions and behavior some validity. How long do you tolerate this and the misogyny that is also part of their message? And this is to not even mention the corruption that has been uncovered (see the most recent Advocate). Why is there no serious call for disciplinary action? Why are they the only ones being permitted to give ultimatums? They have made it clear that they have no interest in dialogue. (They have said that gay people don’t even exist in their own congregations.)
Instead let’s be willing to take a stand and say that maybe it is they, not the Episcopalians, who don’t belong in the church, or at least in a leadership position, even if their congregations are the largest in the world. Would the bishop of a small diocese be accorded this kind of servility? Remember, they are on record denying the humanity of some of God’s creatures and of abetting the violence being done towards them. And Gene Robinson is the problem? Where is Canterbury’s leadership on this issue? Why are they being invited to Lambeth when they’ve violated Anglican teachings far more than the Bishop of New Hampshire who can only come unofficially as a guest? Let’s be consistent folks. . .
You can hear the streaming audio of this podcast on your computer even if you don’t have an iPod. The interview is in about the last 20 minutes of the hour-long program. Listen and weep, but also take courage in the heroism of this man:
http://web.mac.com/depeche7/iWeb/Site/Podcast/Podcast.html
Regards,
Ben
Dear friends,
I think we may be the victims of one of the greatest diversionary scams to hit the Anglican church in some time. When you listen to the interview here of Davis Mac-Iyalla at the end of the July 6 program you will wonder why the Communion is consumed with a compassionate gay bishop in the U.S. who preaches and lives the gospel instead of a primate who encourages violence toward a segment of the population that he believes doesn’t even exist. When you erase another person’s humanity you are acting so contrary to Christ that it is unimaginable to me that you would be permitted to lead any kind of church much less an archdiocese. And Mac-Iyalla’s words about Akinola are corroborated elsewhere; it’s just that to hear how they affect real human beings (yes, they are real) cuts deep into the soul and heart.
As someone who is currently researching and writing a book about an early Anglican bishop who was actually burned at the stake for standing true to the gospel, I am amazed at the contrast with today. There was a time when the church was not afraid to take action and deprive renegade prelates--who mock the gospel and damage the church’s mission--of their office and their platform to do harm. Perhaps it is time to stop playing defense and start to take action. No more rhetoric about accepting Akinola and others like him into the full body with no strings. This only serves to give their positions and behavior some validity. How long do you tolerate this and the misogyny that is also part of their message? And this is to not even mention the corruption that has been uncovered (see the most recent Advocate). Why is there no serious call for disciplinary action? Why are they the only ones being permitted to give ultimatums? They have made it clear that they have no interest in dialogue. (They have said that gay people don’t even exist in their own congregations.)
Instead let’s be willing to take a stand and say that maybe it is they, not the Episcopalians, who don’t belong in the church, or at least in a leadership position, even if their congregations are the largest in the world. Would the bishop of a small diocese be accorded this kind of servility? Remember, they are on record denying the humanity of some of God’s creatures and of abetting the violence being done towards them. And Gene Robinson is the problem? Where is Canterbury’s leadership on this issue? Why are they being invited to Lambeth when they’ve violated Anglican teachings far more than the Bishop of New Hampshire who can only come unofficially as a guest? Let’s be consistent folks. . .
You can hear the streaming audio of this podcast on your computer even if you don’t have an iPod. The interview is in about the last 20 minutes of the hour-long program. Listen and weep, but also take courage in the heroism of this man:
http://web.mac.com/depeche7/iWeb/Site/Podcast/Podcast.html
Regards,
Ben
Friday, July 6, 2007
For God’s sake
From The Times
July 5, 2007
Archbishop Akinola of Nigeria, the world's most powerful Anglican leader, tells Religion Correspondent Ruth Gledhill that his conservatism is the true faith
snip
Nigeria's bishops will not meet to decide about Lambeth until September. Dr Akinola says he does not know how they will decide. But at this point, attendance by Nigeria looks extremely unlikely. And if they stay away, this will mark the start of true schism. The Lambeth Conference is one of the communion’s four instruments of unity. For the Nigerians to attend, the Archbishop of Canterbury would have to invite Bishop Minns, which he will not.
And the Episcopal Church in the US would have to backpedal on its liberal agenda, which would be a betrayal of everything it has struggled for in the past two decades.
Dr Akinola does not deny that homosexuals exist in Africa. "All we are saying is, do not celebrate what the Bible says is wrong. If the Bible says it is an aberration, it is an aberration. Do not do it." He sees no point in his church attending the Lambeth Conference if the bishops cannot share together in Holy Communion. He begins to get passionate, becoming eloquent in his anger. "The missionaries brought the word of God here and showed us the way of life. We have seen the way of life and we rejoice in it. Now you are telling me this way of life is not right. I have to do something else. Keep it for yourself. I do not want it."
No Nigerian bishop needs to go to Canterbury to learn how to be a bishop, he says. "No Nigerian Anglican needs to go to Lambeth Palace to learn how to become a Christian. It is all available here. We rejoice in our fellowship, we rejoice in our heritage as Anglicans. We celebrate it. But our unity will never be at the expense of truth, of the historic faith."
In spite of what Western church leaders fear, he has no ambitions to lead a breakaway church. "That has never been on my mind. This is the media thing. You see we have scripture. We have our traditions. We have not broken the law. It is your churches that are breaking the law. You are the ones breaking the rules. You are the ones doing what should not be done with impunity. We are saying you cannot sweep it under the carpet. Maybe in the past you could get away with it, but not any more. We have aged. So we are not breaking away from anybody. We remain Anglicans. We are Anglican Church. We will die Anglicans. We are going nowhere."
I ask him about his comments a few years ago, when he was reported as saying that homosexuality was an aberration unknown even in the world of animal relationships. He urges me to see these remarks in their context. A diocese in Canada was moving towards authorising the first Angican liturgy for same-sex blessings. "I was shocked to my marrow the very first time I heard the Church is saying a man can marry a man. What? It is from that shock, that surprise, how is that possible? Is it a kind of experiment or something? They are sick or tired of normal heterosexual relationships? How could that be? That is the context in which I said what I said."
snip
He has been criticised for not speaking out against a new law proposed in Nigeria to make it an offence to promote homosexuality. "The Western world does not have a monopoly of homosexuals," he says. "They are everywhere in the world. But we do not desire to celebrate it. We see it as a problem that can be treated. There have been a lot of importation of Western values and practices in our country. Now the Western world is highlighting the gay issue as the thing. We realise that if care is not taken, our country will be one where you can do whatever you want to do." The new law was intended to prevent wholesale importation of Western values and practices, he says. He admits to problems with the specific provisions, which are, to Western sensibilities, draconian. "But what you have there is still much less, much softer than if it were to be sharia. This is our context. On the one hand the Christian community is happy that we have this provision. It is just our hope that it will help to preserve the institution of marriage, family life as we know it. But if it is not passed, fine, we will look for something else. It is purely democratic."
Click here to read the entire article.
July 5, 2007
Archbishop Akinola of Nigeria, the world's most powerful Anglican leader, tells Religion Correspondent Ruth Gledhill that his conservatism is the true faith
snip
Nigeria's bishops will not meet to decide about Lambeth until September. Dr Akinola says he does not know how they will decide. But at this point, attendance by Nigeria looks extremely unlikely. And if they stay away, this will mark the start of true schism. The Lambeth Conference is one of the communion’s four instruments of unity. For the Nigerians to attend, the Archbishop of Canterbury would have to invite Bishop Minns, which he will not.
And the Episcopal Church in the US would have to backpedal on its liberal agenda, which would be a betrayal of everything it has struggled for in the past two decades.
Dr Akinola does not deny that homosexuals exist in Africa. "All we are saying is, do not celebrate what the Bible says is wrong. If the Bible says it is an aberration, it is an aberration. Do not do it." He sees no point in his church attending the Lambeth Conference if the bishops cannot share together in Holy Communion. He begins to get passionate, becoming eloquent in his anger. "The missionaries brought the word of God here and showed us the way of life. We have seen the way of life and we rejoice in it. Now you are telling me this way of life is not right. I have to do something else. Keep it for yourself. I do not want it."
No Nigerian bishop needs to go to Canterbury to learn how to be a bishop, he says. "No Nigerian Anglican needs to go to Lambeth Palace to learn how to become a Christian. It is all available here. We rejoice in our fellowship, we rejoice in our heritage as Anglicans. We celebrate it. But our unity will never be at the expense of truth, of the historic faith."
In spite of what Western church leaders fear, he has no ambitions to lead a breakaway church. "That has never been on my mind. This is the media thing. You see we have scripture. We have our traditions. We have not broken the law. It is your churches that are breaking the law. You are the ones breaking the rules. You are the ones doing what should not be done with impunity. We are saying you cannot sweep it under the carpet. Maybe in the past you could get away with it, but not any more. We have aged. So we are not breaking away from anybody. We remain Anglicans. We are Anglican Church. We will die Anglicans. We are going nowhere."
I ask him about his comments a few years ago, when he was reported as saying that homosexuality was an aberration unknown even in the world of animal relationships. He urges me to see these remarks in their context. A diocese in Canada was moving towards authorising the first Angican liturgy for same-sex blessings. "I was shocked to my marrow the very first time I heard the Church is saying a man can marry a man. What? It is from that shock, that surprise, how is that possible? Is it a kind of experiment or something? They are sick or tired of normal heterosexual relationships? How could that be? That is the context in which I said what I said."
snip
He has been criticised for not speaking out against a new law proposed in Nigeria to make it an offence to promote homosexuality. "The Western world does not have a monopoly of homosexuals," he says. "They are everywhere in the world. But we do not desire to celebrate it. We see it as a problem that can be treated. There have been a lot of importation of Western values and practices in our country. Now the Western world is highlighting the gay issue as the thing. We realise that if care is not taken, our country will be one where you can do whatever you want to do." The new law was intended to prevent wholesale importation of Western values and practices, he says. He admits to problems with the specific provisions, which are, to Western sensibilities, draconian. "But what you have there is still much less, much softer than if it were to be sharia. This is our context. On the one hand the Christian community is happy that we have this provision. It is just our hope that it will help to preserve the institution of marriage, family life as we know it. But if it is not passed, fine, we will look for something else. It is purely democratic."
Click here to read the entire article.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Akinola's power play
By Kerry Eleveld
From The Advocate
July 17, 2007
The pews of Hylton Memorial Chapel in Woodbridge, Va., were alive with the spirit of an authentic revival on May 5. Alternately dancing, raising hands to the heavens, and bowing in prayer, roughly 1,500 worshippers witnessed the marriage between the Church of Nigeria and the recently formed Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), a group of about 30 Anglican congregations scattered about the United States that have formally broken away from the Anglican Communion’s American branch, the Episcopal Church USA.
Peter Akinola, the archbishop of Nigeria, had come to Virginia to preside over the installation of the convocation’s leader, Bishop Martyn Minns. Decked out in a regal gold robe and miter, Archbishop Akinola exited the sanctuary at the end of the ceremony smiling, jubilant—singing the words of the recessional with his entourage of 10 or so trailing behind. For a gay reporter covering the event, it was a rare glimpse—a chance encounter—and I found myself fixated, studying him in not so subtle a way. He spotted me within moments. I clearly wasn’t there to celebrate. His smile dropped, his song fell away, and he walked on by.
The union between Peter Akinola and Martyn Minns was inaugurated in the summer of 2003 when a majority of 107 Episcopal bishops voted to approve the consecration of
V. Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, as bishop of New Hampshire. Leading up to the vote, a growing number of evangelically inspired Episcopal conservatives had been voicing their displeasure with the direction of the Episcopal Church, but few as loudly as the congregation of Truro Church in Fairfax, Va., headed by then–Rev. Minns. Seven leading bishops from Asia, Africa, and Australia met with Minns and about 50 conservative Episcopal bishops in Fairfax and issued a statement saying Robinson’s confirmation could “precipitate a dramatic realignment of the church.” After Robinson’s installation, Akinola officially cut ties with the Episcopal Church, stopped accepting its donations, and, in a 2006 ceremony held in Nigeria, elevated Minns to the rank of missionary bishop.
Click here to read the rest. Includes quotes from Davis Mac-Iyalla.
From The Advocate
July 17, 2007
The pews of Hylton Memorial Chapel in Woodbridge, Va., were alive with the spirit of an authentic revival on May 5. Alternately dancing, raising hands to the heavens, and bowing in prayer, roughly 1,500 worshippers witnessed the marriage between the Church of Nigeria and the recently formed Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), a group of about 30 Anglican congregations scattered about the United States that have formally broken away from the Anglican Communion’s American branch, the Episcopal Church USA.
Peter Akinola, the archbishop of Nigeria, had come to Virginia to preside over the installation of the convocation’s leader, Bishop Martyn Minns. Decked out in a regal gold robe and miter, Archbishop Akinola exited the sanctuary at the end of the ceremony smiling, jubilant—singing the words of the recessional with his entourage of 10 or so trailing behind. For a gay reporter covering the event, it was a rare glimpse—a chance encounter—and I found myself fixated, studying him in not so subtle a way. He spotted me within moments. I clearly wasn’t there to celebrate. His smile dropped, his song fell away, and he walked on by.
The union between Peter Akinola and Martyn Minns was inaugurated in the summer of 2003 when a majority of 107 Episcopal bishops voted to approve the consecration of
V. Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, as bishop of New Hampshire. Leading up to the vote, a growing number of evangelically inspired Episcopal conservatives had been voicing their displeasure with the direction of the Episcopal Church, but few as loudly as the congregation of Truro Church in Fairfax, Va., headed by then–Rev. Minns. Seven leading bishops from Asia, Africa, and Australia met with Minns and about 50 conservative Episcopal bishops in Fairfax and issued a statement saying Robinson’s confirmation could “precipitate a dramatic realignment of the church.” After Robinson’s installation, Akinola officially cut ties with the Episcopal Church, stopped accepting its donations, and, in a 2006 ceremony held in Nigeria, elevated Minns to the rank of missionary bishop.
Click here to read the rest. Includes quotes from Davis Mac-Iyalla.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Open letter to Archbishop Peter Akinola and Bishop Martyn Minns
Monday, 25 June 2007
by Colin Coward |
Dear Archbishop Peter and Bishop Martyn,
The Daily Champion Newspaper, Lagos (June 17) and the Church of England Newspaper (June 22) have published reports of a statement issued by Rev. Canon AkinTunde Popoola, Director of Communications for the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion).
The Church of England Newspaper reports that Davis Mac-Iyalla, Director of Changing Attitude
Canon AkinTunde is repeating allegations against Davis Mac-Iyalla published on the
Archbishop Peter and Bishop Martyn, you both met Davis Mac-Iyalla at the White Sands Hotel,
Bishop Martyn, I asked in
Canon AkinTunde has nonetheless repeated the false allegations. He seems intent on destroying the reputation of a Christian brother, and has put
We believe that you will be as horrified as we are that such threats are being made and we urge you to issue a statement condemning all false allegations made against Davis Mac-Iyalla and stating that any Anglican who contemplates killing Davis or threatens violence against him is disobeying the 6th commandment and would commit a crime against God and humanity.
Yours faithfully,
The Revd Colin Coward
Director of Changing Attitude
Director of Changing Attitude
The Revd Colin Coward, Director of Changing Attitude
"Canon Popoola, in repeating his allegations against Davis Mac-Iyalla, is challenging the honesty and integrity both of Davis and myself. Changing Attitude
"What Canon Popoola is continuing to do may reasonably be described as evil. He is deliberately publishing falsehoods and lies with the intention of destroying
"In restating the false allegations, Canon Popoola has compromised the integrity of Archbishop Akinola, Bishop Martyn Minns, the
"The Episcopal Church is being judged because it elected and consecrated Bishop Gene Robinson in accordance with its own polity. Archbishop Akinola and Bishop Minns will be judged if they condone something far more serious - a deliberate attempt to destroy the reputation of a fellow Christian and to put him at risk of serious violence, because, as an openly gay Nigerian Anglican, he stands in the way of their attempt to prevent the full inclusion in the Anglican Communion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people."
END
Contact:
Revd Colin Coward, Director of Changing Attitude
Tel. Office: 01380 724908
email: colin@changingattitude.org
Davis Mac-Iyalla, Director of Changing Attitude
Email: davis@nigeria.changingattitude.org
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Episcopal Leaders Developing Response to Anglican Requests
By Lillian Kwon
Christian Post Reporter
Tue, Jun. 12 2007 01:03 PM ET
A draft of a response to the requests of worldwide Anglican leaders is ready for U.S. Episcopal bishops to consider.
Three months before The Episcopal Church's deadline (Sept. 30) to respond to the Anglican Communion's latest communiqué requesting the American church body to make an unequivocal pledge not to authorize same-sex blessings and confirm another openly gay bishop, the Executive Council began a four-day meeting Monday to discuss the draft report.
House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson, who chairs a work group appointed earlier this year to draft a potential response, announced that the Executive Council – the Episcopal Church's governing body – reportedly discussed the draft report in private conversation Monday and will discuss it during an open plenary session on Thursday, according to the Episcopal News Service.
...
In the meantime, Davis Mac-Iyalla, an Anglican gay-rights advocate from Nigeria and founder of the country's only gay-rights organization – Changing Attitude Nigeria – is on a speaking tour across U.S. Episcopal Churches and met this week with the Executive Council's Concerns (INC) and National Concerns (NAC) committees.
He claimed that Church of Nigeria Archbishop Peter Akinola has been directly involved in a bill that would impose a five-year jail sentence for relationships, activism, advocacy and shows of affection among lesbian and gay people. The Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act 2006, currently pending before the Nigerian legislature, bans both same-sex "marriage" and those who advocate for gays.
Claiming 2,500 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender members in his organization, Mac-Iyalla said, "It is wrong to say that homosexuality is a Western, imported culture," according to Episcopal News Service.
He urged The Episcopal Church to petition the Nigerian government to oppose the bill.
"Our hope is in The Episcopal Church," he said. "If you don't speak out for us, we don't know where we will take our voice."
Although Akinola initially supported the bill, he later expressed concerns "about individual human rights that must be addressed both in the framing of the law and its implementation.
Click here to read the entire article.
Christian Post Reporter
Tue, Jun. 12 2007 01:03 PM ET
A draft of a response to the requests of worldwide Anglican leaders is ready for U.S. Episcopal bishops to consider.
Three months before The Episcopal Church's deadline (Sept. 30) to respond to the Anglican Communion's latest communiqué requesting the American church body to make an unequivocal pledge not to authorize same-sex blessings and confirm another openly gay bishop, the Executive Council began a four-day meeting Monday to discuss the draft report.
House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson, who chairs a work group appointed earlier this year to draft a potential response, announced that the Executive Council – the Episcopal Church's governing body – reportedly discussed the draft report in private conversation Monday and will discuss it during an open plenary session on Thursday, according to the Episcopal News Service.
...
In the meantime, Davis Mac-Iyalla, an Anglican gay-rights advocate from Nigeria and founder of the country's only gay-rights organization – Changing Attitude Nigeria – is on a speaking tour across U.S. Episcopal Churches and met this week with the Executive Council's Concerns (INC) and National Concerns (NAC) committees.
He claimed that Church of Nigeria Archbishop Peter Akinola has been directly involved in a bill that would impose a five-year jail sentence for relationships, activism, advocacy and shows of affection among lesbian and gay people. The Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act 2006, currently pending before the Nigerian legislature, bans both same-sex "marriage" and those who advocate for gays.
Claiming 2,500 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender members in his organization, Mac-Iyalla said, "It is wrong to say that homosexuality is a Western, imported culture," according to Episcopal News Service.
He urged The Episcopal Church to petition the Nigerian government to oppose the bill.
"Our hope is in The Episcopal Church," he said. "If you don't speak out for us, we don't know where we will take our voice."
Although Akinola initially supported the bill, he later expressed concerns "about individual human rights that must be addressed both in the framing of the law and its implementation.
Click here to read the entire article.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Nigerian Gay-Rights Advocate Speaks Out to Episcopal Churches
By Lillian Kwon
Christian Post Reporter
Mon, May. 28 2007 10:27 AM ET
The Christian Post
An Anglican gay-rights advocate from Nigeria is currently visiting Episcopal churches across the United States on a speaking tour.
Davis Mac-Iyalla, founder of Changing Attitude Nigeria – the country's only gay-rights organization – spoke at Church of Our Saviour in Cincinnati, on Pentecost Sunday amid divisions in the Episcopal Church over homosexuality and Anglican tradition. Nearly two weeks into his six-week tour, Mac-Iyalla has visited three U.S. congregations and prepared a petition against the "persecution" of homosexuals in Nigeria.
Click here for the entire article.
Christian Post Reporter
Mon, May. 28 2007 10:27 AM ET
The Christian Post
An Anglican gay-rights advocate from Nigeria is currently visiting Episcopal churches across the United States on a speaking tour.
Davis Mac-Iyalla, founder of Changing Attitude Nigeria – the country's only gay-rights organization – spoke at Church of Our Saviour in Cincinnati, on Pentecost Sunday amid divisions in the Episcopal Church over homosexuality and Anglican tradition. Nearly two weeks into his six-week tour, Mac-Iyalla has visited three U.S. congregations and prepared a petition against the "persecution" of homosexuals in Nigeria.
Click here for the entire article.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Gay Episcopal bishop not invited to world Anglican meeting
NEW YORK – The first openly gay Episcopal bishop will not be invited to a once-a-decade meeting of world Anglican leaders next year, as the fellowship tries to avert a schism over homosexuality. A breakaway conservative U.S. bishop also was snubbed.
snip
"This decision places the vast majority of American bishops along with others throughout the world in an embarrassing position," said the Rev. Martin Reynolds of Britain's Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement. "If they accept their Lambeth invitations this might appear to support bishop Robinson's victimization, while if they reject the invitation they will abandon our communion to the homophobes."
Decision on Lambeth Conference invitations draws reaction
[Episcopal News Service] The Archbishop of Canterbury's decision to withhold a small number of invitations to the 2008 Lambeth Conference of Bishops drew reaction as soon as the announcement was made public May 22.
snip
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori sent a short e-mail message to the House of Bishops urging "a calm approach to today's announcement regarding 2008 Lambeth Conference invitations, a subject on which I plan to make no formal statement at this time. It is possible that aspects of this matter may change in the next 14 months, and the House of Bishops' September meeting offers us a forum for further discussion."
House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson also issued a short statement saying that "the Episcopal Church elects bishops and consents to the election of bishops in a democratic and participatory manner. The process is carried out within our Constitution and Canons, both at the General Convention and in our dioceses. The Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson is a duly elected and consecrated bishop of this Church. Not inviting him to the Lambeth Conference causes serious concern to The Episcopal Church."
snip
Meanwhile, according to a posting on the website Anglican Mainstream, Archbishop Peter Akinola, primate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, said that withholding an invitation to Minns "will be viewed as withholding invitation to the entire House of Bishops of the Church of Nigeria."
snip
The Rev. Susan Russell, the president of IntegrityUSA, said that her organization of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Episcopalians and their supporters, is "outraged and appalled" at Williams' decision not to invite Robinson. She suggested that the Episcopal Church's bishops ought "to think long and hard about whether they are willing to participate in the continued scapegoating of the gay and lesbian faithful as the price for going to the Lambeth Conference."
"This is not only a snub of Bishop Gene Robinson but an affront to the entire U.S. Episcopal Church," Russell said in part. "The Archbishop of Canterbury has allowed himself to be blackmailed by forces promoting bigotry and exclusion in the Anglican Communion. This action shows a disgraceful lack of leadership on Williams' part."
The complete IntegrityUSA statement is available here.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Katharine Jefferts Schori on the future of the Episcopal Church
First woman to preside as bishop talks with Statesman religion reporter
By Eileen Flynn
American-Statesman Staff
Saturday, May 19, 2007
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, addressed the graduates of the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest on Tuesday in Northwest Austin. After the commencement, Jefferts Schori, the first woman to lead the national church, sat down with an American-Statesman reporter to talk about her denomination's challenges, including tensions within the 2.4 million-member American province and with Anglicans worldwide and her recent public row with Nigerian bishop Peter Akinola. Jefferts Schori, 53, also touched on her view of smart church growth and why this is the "most exciting time to be an Anglican in generations." She's most passionate about what her church is doing that doesn't make headlines: feeding the hungry, empowering the poor, educating children.
snip
[AMERICAN STATESMAN:] Let's talk about Bishop Akinola. You sent a letter to him asking him not to come to the U.S. and set up alternative episcopacies that would not recognize the Episcopal Church. He replied that it's ironic that you would ask him to follow custom when in fact your province has violated scriptural teachings on issues like homosexuality. Is there possibility for dialogue beyond this?
[PRESIDING BISHOP:] I think the possibility for dialogue with him in particular is a challenge. The reality is that we have changed our scriptural understandings about all sorts of things, including sexual ethics. We teach something different about contraception than we did 50 years ago. We permit remarriage after divorce, despite what Jesus said about it. Homosexuality is the most recent in a long series of challenges. Bishop Akinola is arguing that we've changed our understanding. Yes, we have, but not wholly. It's a challenge to many people who don't want to talk about sexuality in public. If you look at attitudes toward sexuality in general, and homosexuality in particular, what they were like in this country 50 years ago, and compare it to what they're like in Nigeria today — pretty similar.
snip
[PRESIDING BISHOP:] I think some people expect that the church should look like the church did when they were 15. The reality is, the church doesn't live unless it continues to change. And it's struggled with who's in and who's out from the very beginning. The first great controversies were about whether or not gentiles could be followers of Jesus. Do they have to be circumcised? Do they have to follow the dietary laws? We have struggled over and over again in this country with the place of slaves, African Americans, the place of immigrants, the place of women in the church. Today it's about the place of gay and lesbian people. There will be another group next. I don't know who it will be, but it's our human nature to say (we want) people like us.
Click here to read it all.
By Eileen Flynn
American-Statesman Staff
Saturday, May 19, 2007
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, addressed the graduates of the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest on Tuesday in Northwest Austin. After the commencement, Jefferts Schori, the first woman to lead the national church, sat down with an American-Statesman reporter to talk about her denomination's challenges, including tensions within the 2.4 million-member American province and with Anglicans worldwide and her recent public row with Nigerian bishop Peter Akinola. Jefferts Schori, 53, also touched on her view of smart church growth and why this is the "most exciting time to be an Anglican in generations." She's most passionate about what her church is doing that doesn't make headlines: feeding the hungry, empowering the poor, educating children.
snip
[AMERICAN STATESMAN:] Let's talk about Bishop Akinola. You sent a letter to him asking him not to come to the U.S. and set up alternative episcopacies that would not recognize the Episcopal Church. He replied that it's ironic that you would ask him to follow custom when in fact your province has violated scriptural teachings on issues like homosexuality. Is there possibility for dialogue beyond this?
[PRESIDING BISHOP:] I think the possibility for dialogue with him in particular is a challenge. The reality is that we have changed our scriptural understandings about all sorts of things, including sexual ethics. We teach something different about contraception than we did 50 years ago. We permit remarriage after divorce, despite what Jesus said about it. Homosexuality is the most recent in a long series of challenges. Bishop Akinola is arguing that we've changed our understanding. Yes, we have, but not wholly. It's a challenge to many people who don't want to talk about sexuality in public. If you look at attitudes toward sexuality in general, and homosexuality in particular, what they were like in this country 50 years ago, and compare it to what they're like in Nigeria today — pretty similar.
snip
[PRESIDING BISHOP:] I think some people expect that the church should look like the church did when they were 15. The reality is, the church doesn't live unless it continues to change. And it's struggled with who's in and who's out from the very beginning. The first great controversies were about whether or not gentiles could be followers of Jesus. Do they have to be circumcised? Do they have to follow the dietary laws? We have struggled over and over again in this country with the place of slaves, African Americans, the place of immigrants, the place of women in the church. Today it's about the place of gay and lesbian people. There will be another group next. I don't know who it will be, but it's our human nature to say (we want) people like us.
Click here to read it all.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Nigerian Primate responds to letter from Presiding Bishop
By Staff
Episcopal News Service
May 03, 2007
Nigerian Primate Peter Akinola has responded publicly to an April 30 emailed letter from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, asking him to reconsider plans to install Nigerian Bishop Martyn Minns as head of the Nigerian-based Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA).
The installation service is set for May 5 at the Hylton Memorial Chapel, a nondenominational Christian event center in Woodbridge, Virginia.
Jefferts Schori said the installation "would violate the ancient customs of the church" and would "not help the efforts of reconciliation." Such action, she said, "would display to the world division and disunity that are not part of the mind of Christ.
Click here to read the full ENS article.
Click here to read Archbishop Akinola's entire letter.
Episcopal News Service
May 03, 2007
Nigerian Primate Peter Akinola has responded publicly to an April 30 emailed letter from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, asking him to reconsider plans to install Nigerian Bishop Martyn Minns as head of the Nigerian-based Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA).
The installation service is set for May 5 at the Hylton Memorial Chapel, a nondenominational Christian event center in Woodbridge, Virginia.
Jefferts Schori said the installation "would violate the ancient customs of the church" and would "not help the efforts of reconciliation." Such action, she said, "would display to the world division and disunity that are not part of the mind of Christ.
Click here to read the full ENS article.
Click here to read Archbishop Akinola's entire letter.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Presiding Bishop urges Nigerian Primate to reconsider plans to install bishop
Actions would violate ancient customs, display division and disunity, Jefferts Schori saysMay 01, 2007
Episcopal News Service
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has written to Nigerian Primate Peter J. Akinola asking him to reconsider plans to install Martyn Minns as a bishop in the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), an action she says "would violate the ancient customs of the church" and would "not help the efforts of reconciliation."
Such action, Jefferts Schori added, "would display to the world division and disunity that are not part of the mind of Christ, which we must strive to display to all."
The installation service, set for May 5 the Hylton Memorial Chapel, a nondenominational Christian Event Center in Woodbridge, Virginia, is intended to install Minns as bishop of CANA, which describes itself as "an Anglican missionary effort in the US sponsored by the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)."
CANA is made up of congregations formed of members who have disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church. Minns, former rector of Truro Parish, an Episcopal congregation in Fairfax, Virginia, was elected and consecrated by the bishops of the Anglican Church of Nigeria to serve as CANA's missionary bishop.
"I would carefully ask that you reconsider your plans to come to this country for this purpose" of installing Minns, Jefferts Schori said in her April 30 letter to Akinola, citing "the hope and vision of reconciliation which was the mind of the primates as we met in Tanzania."
At that meeting in Dar es Salaam, the Primates said international boundary crossing should not persist among the Communion's 38 Provinces, which include the Episcopal Church and the Church of Nigeria.
Minns was on site in Tanzania at the recent Primates' Meeting. Reporters observed him conferring regularly with Akinola in sessions apparently devoted to planning and influencing the Primates' Communique issued from the Dar es Salaam proceedings.
Minns told the New York Times that the convocation that he is to lead was not interfering with the Episcopal Church.
"The reality is that there is a broken relationship between the Episcopal Church and the rest of the communion," Minns said. "We want to give people a freedom of choice to remain Anglican but not under the Episcopal Church as it is currently led."
In an ealier statement, Jefferts Schori said that "this action would only serve to heighten current tensions, and would be regrettable if it does indeed occur."
Read the rest at: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_85463_ENG_HTM.htm
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
A matter of faith
As it has before, the church should stand up for its beliefs in battle for inclusion
By John Lane, April 17, 2007
Episcopal Life Online
...The gay and lesbian population in the Episcopal Church is probably not much different than in the rest of society, but we have (in some places) created a climate where people are not afraid to admit their orientation and relationships and do not live in fear that by doing so they will be persecuted.
The battle in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion is not a simple battle between righteousness and sin. Those who have fought for years for the theological truth that we all are seen as equal in the sight of God believe there is something more at stake here than some kind of willy-nilly flouting of the things that God really wants us to concentrate on.
When people throughout the world are losing jobs, are having their houses burned down, cannot gather together in public without breaking the law and are lynched and murdered without their killers being brought to justice, in all these cases because they are gay, then we aren't talking about something inconsequential. As long as we wait to do justice for these people and delay telling the rest of the world that we no longer are willing to live with homophobia and discrimination, then I think we put our mortal souls in peril. This is a faith issue, not just some kind of half-baked sociological exercise.
The archbishop of Nigeria and others already have crossed provincial boundaries and invaded the Episcopal Church and have repeatedly said that they would not stop doing so. Why should we say that we are wrong to be passionate about the place of all God's children in his church, that we admit that we've been bad, and think that making nice for a few years with people whose opinions about gays we abhor will somehow bring love and unity?
The archbishop of Nigeria is standing up for what he believes. Why should we do less?
Click here to read the entire article.
By John Lane, April 17, 2007
Episcopal Life Online
...The gay and lesbian population in the Episcopal Church is probably not much different than in the rest of society, but we have (in some places) created a climate where people are not afraid to admit their orientation and relationships and do not live in fear that by doing so they will be persecuted.
The battle in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion is not a simple battle between righteousness and sin. Those who have fought for years for the theological truth that we all are seen as equal in the sight of God believe there is something more at stake here than some kind of willy-nilly flouting of the things that God really wants us to concentrate on.
When people throughout the world are losing jobs, are having their houses burned down, cannot gather together in public without breaking the law and are lynched and murdered without their killers being brought to justice, in all these cases because they are gay, then we aren't talking about something inconsequential. As long as we wait to do justice for these people and delay telling the rest of the world that we no longer are willing to live with homophobia and discrimination, then I think we put our mortal souls in peril. This is a faith issue, not just some kind of half-baked sociological exercise.
The archbishop of Nigeria and others already have crossed provincial boundaries and invaded the Episcopal Church and have repeatedly said that they would not stop doing so. Why should we say that we are wrong to be passionate about the place of all God's children in his church, that we admit that we've been bad, and think that making nice for a few years with people whose opinions about gays we abhor will somehow bring love and unity?
The archbishop of Nigeria is standing up for what he believes. Why should we do less?
Click here to read the entire article.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Africa and homosexuality
In denial
Apr 12th 2007
NAIROBI
From The Economist print edition
Anglican divisions are a reminder that homophobia in Africa is still the norm
In a nice twist of missionary history, several of America's oldest and richest Anglican parishes now claim to be under the authority of African bishops. The issue that has led them to renounce their own national leadership is homosexuality; some of the minority of Anglicans (or Episcopalians) who object to gay bishops in American dioceses are aligning with conservatives in Africa. The most influential is Archbishop Peter Akinola, who leads the 17m-strong Anglican church in Nigeria, as well as his new congregants in Virginia. His hostility to homosexuality may reflect mainstream African opinion, but he is pragmatic too. His conservative reading of the Bible helps protect his Anglican flank against the fast-growing Pentecostalists. It also seeks common ground with Nigeria's homophobic Muslims.
snip
Africa's Anglican clergymen get little education in sexuality. Some preach abstinence yet turn a blind eye to polygamous marriages, adultery and genital mutilation. Christopher Senyonjo, a retired Anglican bishop in Uganda, is one of only a small number of African Anglicans who challenge the conservatives. The hounding of homosexuals, he says, is the "opposite of Christlike".
snip
Only South Africa's Anglicans, who played a big part in combating apartheid, offer some sort of counterbalance. The church there has spoken up for homosexual rights. The government has legalised same-sex marriage. But campaigners say that South African lesbians are now being targeted by homophobic men—and sometimes even gang-raped.
Click here to read the rest.
Apr 12th 2007
NAIROBI
From The Economist print edition
Anglican divisions are a reminder that homophobia in Africa is still the norm
In a nice twist of missionary history, several of America's oldest and richest Anglican parishes now claim to be under the authority of African bishops. The issue that has led them to renounce their own national leadership is homosexuality; some of the minority of Anglicans (or Episcopalians) who object to gay bishops in American dioceses are aligning with conservatives in Africa. The most influential is Archbishop Peter Akinola, who leads the 17m-strong Anglican church in Nigeria, as well as his new congregants in Virginia. His hostility to homosexuality may reflect mainstream African opinion, but he is pragmatic too. His conservative reading of the Bible helps protect his Anglican flank against the fast-growing Pentecostalists. It also seeks common ground with Nigeria's homophobic Muslims.
snip
Africa's Anglican clergymen get little education in sexuality. Some preach abstinence yet turn a blind eye to polygamous marriages, adultery and genital mutilation. Christopher Senyonjo, a retired Anglican bishop in Uganda, is one of only a small number of African Anglicans who challenge the conservatives. The hounding of homosexuals, he says, is the "opposite of Christlike".
snip
Only South Africa's Anglicans, who played a big part in combating apartheid, offer some sort of counterbalance. The church there has spoken up for homosexual rights. The government has legalised same-sex marriage. But campaigners say that South African lesbians are now being targeted by homophobic men—and sometimes even gang-raped.
Click here to read the rest.
Friday, April 13, 2007
New Life for the Grace crew?
by Ralph Routon
Colorado Springs Independent
April 12-18, 2007
For those who have been paying attention, the sad internal strife at Grace Church has been enough to make a heathen shudder.
As of Easter Sunday, the highlight of the Christian calendar, the Grace members who feel loyal and committed to the Episcopal Church of the United States found themselves unwelcome at their own church building. Instead, they had to celebrate Easter in exile at Colorado College's Shove Chapel.
snip
And people wonder why churches aren't as large or influential as they once were. Especially when a congregation as established and deep-rooted as Grace's can split in such a deplorable manner—with the "breakaway" group seizing control of the church complex and embracing a Nigerian archbishop who believes homosexuals and their supporters should be imprisoned.
Let's be more specific. Archbishop Peter Akinola supports the idea of Nigeria's government making same-sex relationships criminal. He also favors Nigeria outlawing positive publicity for homosexuals "through the electronic or print media, physically, directly, indirectly or otherwise..."
snip
Here are some of Akinola's own words in a "message to the nation" of Nigeria, just last September: The Church affirms our commitment to the total rejection of the evil of homosexuality which is a perversion of human dignity and encourages the National Assembly to ratify the Bill prohibiting the legality of homosexuality since it is incongruent with the teachings of the Bible, Quran and the basic African traditional values.
Click here to read the rest.
Colorado Springs Independent
April 12-18, 2007
For those who have been paying attention, the sad internal strife at Grace Church has been enough to make a heathen shudder.
As of Easter Sunday, the highlight of the Christian calendar, the Grace members who feel loyal and committed to the Episcopal Church of the United States found themselves unwelcome at their own church building. Instead, they had to celebrate Easter in exile at Colorado College's Shove Chapel.
snip
And people wonder why churches aren't as large or influential as they once were. Especially when a congregation as established and deep-rooted as Grace's can split in such a deplorable manner—with the "breakaway" group seizing control of the church complex and embracing a Nigerian archbishop who believes homosexuals and their supporters should be imprisoned.
Let's be more specific. Archbishop Peter Akinola supports the idea of Nigeria's government making same-sex relationships criminal. He also favors Nigeria outlawing positive publicity for homosexuals "through the electronic or print media, physically, directly, indirectly or otherwise..."
snip
Here are some of Akinola's own words in a "message to the nation" of Nigeria, just last September: The Church affirms our commitment to the total rejection of the evil of homosexuality which is a perversion of human dignity and encourages the National Assembly to ratify the Bill prohibiting the legality of homosexuality since it is incongruent with the teachings of the Bible, Quran and the basic African traditional values.
Click here to read the rest.
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