From here:
The Anglican church in the West no longer adheres to the word of God, African bishops said Tuesday at a continental conference attended by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Rowan Williams, the head of the world-wide Anglican Communion, has been criticised by some African church leaders for his tolerant stance on homosexuality.
“Today, the West is lacking obedience to the word of God,” Reverend Ian Ernest of Mauritius, the head of the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa, told journalists.
“It is for us (Africans) to redress the situation,” he said, adding that he has severed all ties to the Episcopalian churches in Canada and the US that have allowed gays to enter the clergy.
The conference host, the Archbishop of Uganda Henry Luke Orombi, said African leaders would use the six-day meeting to voice the concerns about the “ailing church” to Williams.
“Homosexuality is incompatible with the word of God,” Orombi said. “It is good (that) Archbishop Rowan is here. We are going to express to him where we stand. We are going to explain where our pains are.”
Orombi also said that disputes over homosexuality had already divided the global Anglican community.
“There is already a break. It doesn’t need to be announced. It is in the way people act,” he said.
Williams delivered a sermon Tuesday during the opening of the meeting, the first of its kind since 2004.
While he did not mention homosexuality, he said it was the duty of all bishops to be open minded on contentious issues.
“We must learn to listen to those we lead and serve to find out what their hopes and needs and confusions are. We must love them and attend to their humanity in all its diversity,” he said.
“We cannot assume we always know better and that we always have the right answer to any specific question.”
Isn’t this the same group that stones homosexuals and has bishops in polygimous marriages? If this is what they mean by orthodoxy then I’m happy not to be associated with it. My question is…. can the Essentials crowd live with it? I hope not.
No ad hominums, please. Bishops in polygimous marriages? Stoneings? Can you actually provide links to substantiate your allegations? Any proof that the African churches condone these things? If not I’ll just have to assume that you are throwing stones.
I don’t know about polygamous bishops, but polygamy is certainly a problem in rural parts of Africa, and the Churches there do not appear to have come up with a workable solution.
Well, a cursory Google search found this, dated 2002:
One could wish for clearer reporting of just what was said, in terms of a distinction between orientation and practice.
I agree, Henry.
We live in a very complicated world. The day of the Second Coming is getting closer by the minute. Perhaps the worldwide Anglican Communion has outlived its usefullness. Perhaps we should begin a new day of independent national churches in each nation.
Hello Michael (7)
My two cents worth, for what’s it’s worth, is that a major contributor to our Anglican woes is that the ACoC and TEC have become too much “independent national churches” in their countries (presently have a hard time seeing Canada as a “Nation” as that implies a certain degree of uniformity of culture which Trudeau did away with when he introduced “official multi-culturalism”). Because ACoC and TEC have not had to face any consequences to the WAC they are able to continue with more and more revisionisms. Things are now to the point that an ACoC regular would no longer recognize the true Anglican litergy (that found in the BAS) that continues to be practiced in the majority of WAC Provinces.
A far greater degree of global Anglican unity is needed. Not less.
The New Testament seems to favour the local congregation, the church in a local town or city. Personally I can no longer believe in the state church in England. Why should the Archbishop of Canterbury be the Head of the Anglican Communion? Anglicanism may no longer serve a useful purpose in today’s world. The Reformation cut the English church away from Rome. Perhaps back to Rome can be viable option for a lot of modern Anglicans.
I appreciate AMPisAnglican (#8) for suggesting the need of a greater degree of global Anglican unity. Local unity in each nation or continent may happen, e.g. Bishops in Africa may have their own unity.
More than 35 years ago, if I remember correctly, I came across a book by J. I. Packer and others who seem to propose “one church in each place” It could take the form of regionalized house groups, each group composed of the Christians who happen to live in the neighbourhood where it meets. The local option may be the solution to our current difficulties. There is only one church, not Anglican, Baptist, or Orthodox, etc.
The local option also raises questions, not least of which is how do we know what one Church is preaching is the same as what others are preaching, especially if they are a long distance away? The second-century catholic movement, which ultimately developed into the Roman Catholic Church, was an attempt to resolve this difficulty.
Gordon (#10), there wasn’t any mention of a “second-century catholic movement” in my church history course, and I don’t recall reading about it in the notes or textbook. I’m curious about what you are referring to. Sorry for dragging the conversation off topic.
Unfortunately I can’t provide any references at the moment (my books are currently boxed up), and there doesn’t seem to be much about this on-line, so I can only give you a brief summary from memory.
There were concerns in the second century that the Church in Carthage was geographically so far away from the Churches in Antioch, Alexandria and Rome that there needed to be some system of comparing notes so that no one drifted away from the faith. This was mainly done at first through informal contacts involving those who had to travel on business.
In due course, Rome became the depository of documents, and the see to which appeals were most often made, as there was much more frequent travel between the capital and the provinces than between the other sees. However, when there were complaints against Rome, reference was made to the other Patriarchal sees which kept their own archives.
…or, as Wikipedia has it,
The early Catholic Church was more loosely organized, at times resulting in diverse interpretations of Christian beliefs. In part to ensure a greater consistency in their teachings, by the early second century, Christian communities had adopted a more structured hierarchy, with a central bishop having authority over the clergy in his city.
The organization of dioceses was established mirroring the territories and cities of the Empire; bishops in politically important cities exerted greater authority over bishops in nearby cities. The churches in Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome held the highest positions, but sees considered “apostolic” retained certain rights of governance and discipline over the other sees “because of their superior origin”; by at least the 3rd century, the Roman bishop already functioned as a court of appeals for problems that other bishops could not resolve.
Beginning in the 2nd century, bishops often congregated in regional synods to resolve doctrinal and policy issues. Doctrine was further refined by a series of influential theologians and teachers, known collectively as the Church Fathers. Ecumenical Councils came to be recognized as infallible and authoritative in resolving theological disputes.
Gordon (#12 & #13), thank you for digging this up. You’ve piqued my interest and I’m going to go back to Schaff and take a peek at what he says. I suspect he describes a similar scenario using different terminology.
I read with interest all the arguments for and against polygamy. African Bishops are accused by their Western counterparts of condoning polygamy while condemning homosexualism.
While I cannot remember anywhere in the Bible where homosexualism is condoned, Africans had very good reasons for their traditions, polygamy included. Demographically, there seemed to ha e been, at any time, more women who were marriageable than men either because men matured later or were killed in wars. Prostitution and its attendant problems, for example, was totally uncommon among Africans before the advent of the Christianity and the monogamy regime.
Let us remember how Christianity was introduced in Africa. African were not converted to Christianity but were forced into it by armed and other forms of coercion- they were beaten into it as Christianity was one of the main tools of colonialism. African traditions were roundly condemen as barbaric. For me, there is nothing more barbaric than a man mounting another man as is condoned by the Arch Bishop of Canterbury.
The Anglican Church of Kenya phas a clergy the majority of whom became priests not for the calling, but because it was the only job available. A good percentage is made up of retirees who cannot face the hardship of rural life. Another good percentage come from polygamous backgrounds and had no problems in their lives as a result. I think they are playing to the gallery instead of addressing the issue properly. Polygamy is an African way of life which is here to stay as long as one can provide adequately for his wives. In Africa, the wives live with the man and are known as his wives. In the west, people get divorced like a joke and what we have is a very well developed culture of serial polygamy. I would rather stay with my wives and children than marry women, have children and kick them out at will. You cannot do this in Africa. Those who do it (and they are very few) are those who think they are wesernized.
The constitution of Kenya allows polygamy and anything the church does or says must be in conformity with the constitution. What will they do if, for example, they bar someone who then takes them to court for breach of rights? The Kenyan church must re-engineer itself and reintroduce the faith the way it should have been done in the beginning. For the church to succeed, it must work within the frameworks of the host communities and not the other way round. The Catholic church brought celibacy which has failed miserably in Africa. Now celibacy is a gravely alien notion among Africans and the biggest problem is my mother who must have grandchildren. An African will know no peace unless he provides his mother with grandchildren. Many men who join the orders have either provided grandchildren on the sly or have simply quit all together.
The Kenyan Anglican clergy should wake up and organize the church in such ways as it will provide TRUE answers to members and not stances which are in conflict with the fibre of the nation.