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Africa's leading Anglican archbishops plan to snub their pro-gay rights US counterpart at a key summit next month as a bitter battle over homosexuality intensifies in a world church on the brink of schism.
Several African leaders have blasted Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, the first woman to head the US Episcopal Church, for backing gay clergy and same-sex unions. They have urged Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, not to invite her to a global meeting of Anglican primates in Tanzania.
Williams, who admitted this week he was losing control over the divisive debate, insisted Jefferts Schori meet her critics "face to face" but sought to appease traditionalists by inviting conservative US church leaders too.
African bishops won't meet her
The archbishops from Africa, home to more than half of the world's 77 million Anglicans, say they will stop short of an all-out boycott but cannot meet with Jefferts Schori.
Benjamin Nzimbi, the Kenyan Archbishop, said he found it "difficult to share a meeting with somebody who is ... fighting what we believe Scripture is saying. There is dialogue, this can take place, but I think we have listened to one another enough," he said.
Peter Akinola, a spokesperson for Nigeria's Archbishop, Africa's staunchest opponent of gay rights, said many primates - heads of member churches - were loathe to meet with Jefferts Schori.
"How that can be done remains mere speculation," said Canon Akintunde Popoola. In an unprecedented move, several primates refused to take communion alongside Frank Griswold, Jefferts Schori's predecessor, at their last meeting in February 2005. "There will be a very high level of tension at the meeting in Tanzania," commented Canon David Anderson, president of the orthodox American Anglican Council in Atlanta, Georgia. Source: sabcnews.com |
