The Anglican Church has no links to sever By John Ndegwa Wednesday, November 19, 2003 http://www.eastandard.net/commentaries/column/col002.htm The Anglican Church in Africa, particularly in Kenya, is overlooking crucial issues whenever the faithful condemn homosexuality, in particular the consecration of Gene Robinson as the bishop of the US Episcopal Church. But they can be forgiven for that, but not without a reminder of the key issues which they may not know. First, the Anglican Church itself had an evil beginning and the denomination is as a result of sin other than of moral consideration. The summary of the story goes thus: When Henry VIII was the King of England, a large part of the world was under the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, so was England. The king was married to a queen whom he wished to divorce through the Pope�s permission. Having failed to convince the Pope of the validity of the divorce, the Pope objected. The king did not only divorce forcefully, but locked the queen in prison and murdered her. He then declared his country�s divorce from the Church in Rome. In the process the Anglican Church or the Church of England was established. So if the beginning of this church was tainted, so will be the process, and so will be its future as Exodus 20:5 puts it: "Punishing children for iniquities of parents to the third and fourth generations." Secondly, the Anglican provinces are autonomous so are the dioceses and parishes within these provinces. Parishes raise their own funds, pay their vicars and workers as well as initiate projects if they have the potential. Those unfortunate parishes will languish in poverty as the rich ones grow. That is why the All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi can build a multi-million multi-purpose hall while a parish in Korogocho is worshipping in a mabati shelter. The fact that bishops and other subordinate workers cannot be transferred from one diocese to another supports the fact that autonomy is real. Maybe the question we should ask Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi and other bishops is, which links exactly apart from sharing a name, do they want to sever with the US church? The third point is that, any statements issued by the archbishop does not represent the interest of the Anglican Church of Kenya, because never at any time was a commission instituted to collect views from Kenyans who are members of the church. They pretended to read the mood of Kenyans which I suggest they may have read wrongly or can they be accused of ethnocentrism? Another point is that it is the over 4,000 people who gathered in Durham, North Hampshire to witness the bishop�s consecration, who should have rejected him. Similarly, it is the over 50 bishops who conducted the ceremony who should have rejected him by refusing to consecrate him. But if they accepted him while they are his closest allies, I do not see what a church so far away with its own house to put in order should complain. Homosexuality is being practised in the South Africa church and yet the Kenyan church has not cut its link with that particular church. Christian brother to brother or sister to sister hugging could be interpreted as homosexuality, the argument being that if members of the opposite sex hug, they may be sexually excited. Don�t Christians know that we have those people who are biologically homosexual and such greetings can arouse them ? Or aren�t we aware that by what we do we may be endorsing homosexuality? I will not be surprised if, with time, Kenya also will not only ordain homosexual priests but also consecrate homosexual bishops. It will be a development of self-realisation. |
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