Row erupts as Uganda cries foul over ban: CEN 5.08.09 p 7.

The spat over the seating of a delegate from the Church of Uganda to ACC-14 in Kingston has dashed the hopes of the Archbishop of Canterbury for his speedy reconciliation with the estranged Anglican Churches of Africa.

The May 1 decision by the Joint Standing Committee to reject the credentials of the Rev. Philip Ashey as a clergy delegate from Uganda, has outraged the Ugandan Church, but also served to solidify pan-African solidarity and strengthen the global south bloc of delegates to the May 2-12 meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica.

The Joint Standing Committee of the ACC and the Primates stated they were “not satisfied” that Mr. Ashey was “qualified” to serve as an Ugandan delegate because he was a former Episcopal priest currently licensed by the Church of Uganda, but serving in the United States as chief operating officer of the American Anglican Council—a conservative pressure group.

Mr. Ashey’s ministry in the US was a “result of cross-provincial intervention,” Canon Kenneth Kearon, the ACC Secretary General told a press conference on May 4. These interventions had “never been recognized by the four instruments of communion and the Joint Standing Committee felt that it was not possible for an American priest residing in the United States to be recognized as the duly recognized representative of an African province,” he said.

Uganda’s right to select its own delegates to the ACC was subordinate to the JSC’s power to determine who was qualified to serve, he argued, according to “legal advice” the JSC had received.

The JSC’s decision was “unjust, unbiblical, [and] unconstitutional” Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda charged. It also appears to up end prior ACC practice of allowing member churches to select their own delegates, whether such a selection conforms to the rules or not.

On April 23 Archbishop Orombi wrote to Canon Kearon informing him that Mr. Ashey had been chosen as Uganda’s clergy delegate to ACC-14. Canon Kearon responded by email the following day, “welcoming the nomination.”

Following a review of the delegate and press list Canon Kearon wrote to Archbishop Orombi stating that the JSC questioned Mr. Ashey’s registration as a Ugandan delegate, as he was already accredited as a member of the press to the conference, and was not a resident of Uganda.

Archbishop Orombi responded Mr. Ashey had “relinquished” his press credentials and was a priest in good standing of the Diocese of Ruwenzori. However, the selection of delegates was the prerogative of the provinces, and “not subject to review by any body within the ACC, including the [JSC].” Canon Kearon responded the JSC was not satisfied with the explanation offered by Uganda, and would not seat Ashey as he was not a “qualified” member according to Section 4e of the ACC constitution.

Archbishop Orombi responded in a letter to Dr. Williams asking him to intervene in the affair, arguing that the JSC “would assume such authority is a gross violation of our constitutional relationships, not to mention a further tearing of our bonds of affection. Our reasons for appointing one of our American priests to represent us as our clergy delegate are our reasons, and are not for the Joint Standing Committee to question. Section 4(e) does not give the Joint Standing Committee or the ACC the right to interfere in the appointing body’s determination of the “qualification” of a delegate. For the Joint Standing Committee to assume this power is nothing short of an imperialistic and colonial decision that violates the integrity of the Church of Uganda.”

Dr. Williams acknowledged Archbishop Orombi’s concerns in a return email, but backed the JSC’s decision.

Articles 7 and 8 of the ACC Constitution provides for decisions between councils to be made by the ACC Standing Committee, not the JSC, suggesting that not only was there no constitutional power to make this determination, the wrong body made it.

At the 1999 meeting of ACC-11 in Dundee, the Episcopal Church sent as its episcopal representative, Bishop Mark Dyer, the retired Bishop of Bethlehem. Article 4d of the Constitution states, “Bishops and other clerical members shall cease to be members on retirement from ecclesiastical office.”

When The Church of England Newspaper in 1999 questioned the seating of Bishop Dyer at the meeting in contravention of the ACC constitution, ACC Secretary General John L. Peterson responded that it was the ACC’s practice to leave the selection of delegates to the member churches, and that it placed the onus on conformance on to the province.

While the absence of Uganda’s clerical delegate may have achieved a short term victory for the Episcopal Church in its fight with the breakaway groups in the US, and deprived the conservative bloc of one vote in Kingston, it appears to have solidified the Global South delegates, and at this point in the proceedings, strengthened their resolve to resist any watering down of the Covenant or undue extension of time to permit its ratification.