The Lambeth Conference happens just once every decade, and one quarter of the world’s Anglican bishops (many from African nations) are boycotting the conference, exposing the rift caused by the Episcopal Church’s ordination of Gene Robinson five years ago, Reuters reports:
“Church officials said that 230 of the 880 bishops in the Anglican worldwide communion were staying away from the Lambeth conference being staged in the English cathedral city of Canterbury, spiritual home of the deeply divided church. Bishops from Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda, who boast some of the fastest-expanding congregations in the Anglican church, were among those who pledged to snub the conference. “Liberal and conservative clergy have been brought to the brink of schism over the ordination in 2003 of Gene Robinson in New Hampshire, the first openly gay bishop in the church’s 450-year history.
Robinson, of course, was snubbed by the conference, but still plans to hold events in Canterbury, England, where the conference is held. Said Robinson of the boycott: “With young men knifing each other in the streets of London and a billion or more people going through life on less than a dollar a day, what a shame , what a waste it is for the Anglican communion to be tearing itself apart over two men or two women who want to make a Christian family together.”
While giving a sermon at a service on Sunday, Robinson was confronted by a protestor who branded him a “heretic” and demanded Robinson repent.
Quarter of world’s Anglicans boycott conference [washington post]
Recently
Archbishop of Wales Says He Would Consecrate a Gay Bishop [tr]
Heckler Calls Gay Bishop Robinson a ‘Heretic’ at Sermon in the UK [tr]
