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LOST IN TRANSLATION: HOW THE SUDANESE BISHOPS ALMOST DIDN'T MAKE IT TO LAMBETH
Sudanese bishops forced to sign Document 'respecting' multiple sexualities in Britain
By David W. Virtue in Canterbury
www.virtueonline.org
July 31, 2022
The Lambeth Conference organisers went to considerable trouble to arrange visas for the bishops from South Sudan and their wives. Philip George, the chief executive of the conference spoke of how because there are no facilities for issuing visas for the UK in Juba, extensive arrangements had to be made for people to shuttle to and fro to Nairobi with passports and other documents to secure them.
Once they arrived on campus at the University of Kent, the bishops were presented with another document to sign - an undertaking four pages long about their conduct on campus including to respect those of diverse sexualities.
One bishop from South Sudan said he could not sign this as he did not respect people who behaved in such ways, rather he disagreed with them very profoundly. He was told that he would not be allowed to enter the conference unless he signed the undertaking. He consulted his fellow bishops who all took the same line.
Bishop Anthony Poggo, the newly appointed secretary of the ACC, who is also from South Sudan was called over. He pointed out to his fellow bishops that what was meant by this English word 'respect', was not that they should agree with their behaviour, but that they should not attack people of diverse sexualities. They were quite free to criticize them but not to attack them.
Once that was clarified, the bishops and their wives all agreed they could sign the undertaking for the university.
In the discussions at the conference, it is to be hoped that such clarifications can continue to be provided lest important decisions be 'lost in translation'.
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