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African archbishop says Anglican church still faces 'gay' crisis
28 Sept 2007- Nigeria-An influential African
archbishop said Thursday that the Anglican church was still in crisis
despite the US Episcopal Church agreeing to halt the ordination of gay
bishops and blessing same-sex unions.
Benjamin Kwashi, archbishop-elect of Jos province in
Nigeria, insisted that the gay crisis was "not resolved" by the
statement by US church leaders. "The statement by the US Episcopal
bishops should be taken with extreme caution," Kwashi told Nigerian
media.
"The US bishops have not said anything different from
their earlier liberal stance, which supports same-sex unions."
The US Episcopal House of Bishops reaffirmed a
decision to "exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of
any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a
challenge to the wider church."
Church leaders also pledged "not to authorize or use
in our dioceses any public rites of blessing of same-sex unions until a
broader consensus emerges" within the wider Anglican church.
The gay dispute has divided the Anglican church since
2003 when an openly gay bishop was named in the United States. A summit
of global Anglican leaders in February gave the US church a September 30
deadline to bar blessings of same-sex unions and the consecration of
openly gay bishops.
But four Episcopal dioceses in the United States are
moving to split from the US church. African bishops, who have been among
the most outraged at the US move, have broken with church rules and
consecrated bishops to oversee the breakaway US congregations.
The Anglican primate in Nigeria, Archbishop Peter
Akinola, is to ordain two Nigerian bishops who will go to the United
States. "We do not need anybody's permission to preach the gospel," said
Kwashi.
"When the missionaries came to Africa, they did not
get our permission before they arrived. Today, we (Africans) only need
visas to get to US, to preach God's word." The Anglican church has about
17 million followers in Nigeria, making it the biggest in Africa.
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