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Nigerian Anglican accuses US bishops of duplicity on gay issue
By Obed Minchakpu
Abuja, Nigeria, 25 April (ENI)--The Church of Nigeria's senior archbishop, Peter Akinola, has issued a pastoral letter criticising a response of the Episcopal (Anglican) Church in the United States to a call by the Anglican Communion to put a moratorium on the ordinations of non-celibate homosexuals.
The call by the worldwide Anglican grouping followed the consecration in 2003 of V. Gene Robinson, who lives with a male partner, as bishop of the US state of New Hampshire.
Akinola, the primate of the Anglican bishops in Nigeria, noted that a statement by the US Episcopal bishops, after they met in Texas between 11 and 16 March, expressed a desire to remain in the "life and mission of the Anglican Communion".
But in his letter to his fellow bishops sent on 7 April, Akinola said, "I was disappointed that the only regret offered was for their failure to consult and the effect of their actions instead of an admission that what they have done has offended God and His Church."
A report by Anglican leaders in October had urged the US church to declare a moratorium on the election of any bishop candidate "living in a same-gender union" until such time as a "new consensus" emerged on the issue within Anglicanism.
The US bishops said, however, they did not have the authority to impose such criteria on their dioceses.
They declared instead they would urge their dioceses "to delay episcopal elections" altogether ahead of the next General Convention of the Episcopal Church, which will be held in June 2006, in Columbus, Ohio.
On a related issue, Akinola asserted there were US dioceses where "the clergy are still continuing the practice of blessing same-sex partnerships" with the bishops' permission.
"I find this duplicitous and I would point out that the underlying issue is not a temporary cessation of these practices but a decision to renounce them and demonstrate a willing embrace of the same teaching on matters of sexual morality as is generally accepted throughout the Communion," asserted the Nigerian archbishop.
In March, Nigeria's Anglican bishops had resolved not to ordain women as priests.
"The standing committee for now has resolved that the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) shall not commence the ordination of women," said Akinola in a letter to bishops after a 9-11 March
meeting. "However, the issue may be re-visited in the future."
The Church of Nigeria said it had been forced to mobilize Anglican churches in Africa and other countries against the Anglican and Episcopal churches in the United States and Canada which had ordained women and homosexuals.
"On our main task of evangelism, the time has come when each diocese requires rising up, mobilising and empowering the laity for large-scale mission," said Akinola.
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