Africa Consecrates US Bishops: CEN 9.7.07 p 1, 5. September 5, 2007
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Kenya, Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of Uganda.trackback
The Churches of Uganda and Kenya consecrated their American flying bishops this week, in actions taken to strengthen the remnants of traditionalist North American Anglicanism.
The Rt Rev William Murdoch and the Rt Rev Bill Atwood were consecrated as suffragan bishops of All Saints Diocese, Nairobi by Kenya’s Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi on Aug 30, and the Rt. Rev. John Guernsey was consecrated a provincial suffragan bishop by Uganda’s Archbishop Henry Orombi on Sept 1 in the southwest Ugandan city of Mbarra.
Bishops Murdoch and Atwood will have oversight of the Kenyan churches 32 US congregations, while Bishop Guernsey, along with the former Bishop of North Dakota, Andrew Fairfield, will oversee Uganda’s 33 US congregations.
Eight primates along with representatives of two others participated in the consecration. Archbishops Drexel Gomez of the West Indies, Gregory Venables of South America, Justice Akrofi of West Africa, Bernard Malango of Central Africa, Ian Ernest of the Indian Ocean, Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda, and representatives from Nigeria and South East Asia joined the Ugandan and Kenyan archbishops in laying hands on the new bishops.
The Bishops of Fort Worth and Pittsburgh, Jack Iker and Robert Duncan, the retired Bishop of Western Newfoundland, Don Harvey, as well as CANA Bishop Martyn Minns and AMiA Bishop Charles Murphy also participated in the ceremonies.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, had been notified of the consecrations, but was not consulted as to their propriety, Archbishop Nzimbi said.
While the consecrations do not alter the basic political calculus underlying the Anglican Communions sex wars, their symbolism, along with the simultaneous announcement of the nomination of a lesbian priest to stand for election as Bishop of Chicago, will not lighten Dr. Williams’ burden of holding the Church together.
The consecrations come three weeks before Dr. Williams meets with the American bishops in New Orleans, and a month before the Sept 30 deadline set by the Primates’ Dar es Salaam communiqué to clarify the American church’s response to the Windsor Report.
In his consecration sermon in Nairobi, Archbishop Gomez stated the new bishops were beginning their ministries “at a time when the Communion is being severely challenged” by questions of the “the maintenance of Eucharistic communion, continuity and apostolic teaching, and the oversight of the churches.”
He said the present crisis had arisen due to the actions taken by the American Episcopal Church “in respect of human sexuality with special reference to the consecration of a bishop living in an opened homosexual relationship.”
Yet Archbishop Gomez said the “issue is not primarily on of sexuality but one which seeks to answer the question ‘which relationships correspond to God’s ordering of life, and violate it?’ It is a division of opinion between those of us who firmly believe that homosexual practice violates the order of life give by God in scripture and those who seek by various mean to justify what scripture does not honour.”
“We believe that faithfulness to the gospel of Jesus Christ prevents us from compromising the truth so clearly revealed in Holy Scripture,” he said.
The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, along with more than 30 members of General Synod sent an open letter of support to the new bishops, writing they would “represent vibrant and growing Churches in Africa in their love and care for those in the United States who are suffering for their commitment to the faith once delivered to the saints, in the face of a determined capitulation by The Episcopal Church to the forces of contemporary North American culture.”
The letter said the consecrations were a response of the “universal church” to the “needs of the “local church” in such a way as to “preserve global orthodox Anglican witness and fellowship that is not impaired by man-made intermediate structures.”
The Rev. Susan Russell, president of the American gay pressure group integrity, said the consecrations were the actions of a “fringe group” and “one more sad indication of just how far those committed to splitting the Episcopal Church are willing to go to achieve their goal of a church created in their own image.”
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