Kenyan Bishop attacked for opposing US homosexual appointment

Virtuosity ^ | 9 August 2003 | Dennis Lumiti

[ahadams2]

Kenyan Bishop attacked for opposing US homosexual appointment

By Dennis Lumiti

A Kenyan Anglican Bishop was yesterday morning attacked in a London street by two Church of England colleagues for opposing the appointment of a homosexual bishop by the US Episcopal Church.

The British clerics accused the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) of taking an uncompromising stand over the controversial appointment of Rev Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire.

The two confronted Bishop Simon Oketch in London where he is attending an international seminar dubbed: "New Wine Conference".

The confrontation began with a heated argument over the appointment of Robinson and almost resulted in an exchange of blows before members of the public came to Oketch's rescue.

Oketch, who is in-Charge of ACK Maseno North Diocese, called the East African Standard Kakamega office from London immediately after the incident.

"I did not have any fear being in the United Kingdom because Anglican clergymen in this country have never indicated their support for this kind of behaviour," he said.

Oketch said he was going to the venue of the seminar when he alighted from a vehicle while dressed in his collar. The religious garb attracted the attention of the church leaders who were walking along the street.

He said when the English clergymen saw him, they asked him to stop and after greetings, inquired which country he was from.

"When I said I was from Kenya, they expressed anger and asked me to discuss an issue with them before I could continue with my journey," he said.

"One of them said they were saddened by the stand taken by the Anglican Church in Kenya and other countries over the appointment of the gay bishop.

"I told them we could not budge on the issue and that we will oppose it to the end because it is un-Christian," said Oketch.

He said his reply did not go down well with his colleagues who then grabbed him and threatened to beat him up before members of the public noticed the commotion and came to his rescue.

He said the clergymen hurled abuse at him over ACK's stand as they were being pulled away by members of the public.

Meanwhile, an American evangelist yesterday condemned the appointment of the practising homosexual as Bishop, adds Francis Nzaywa. Rev Edward Henderson of Study, Observe and Teach (SOT) Ministries in North Dallas,Texas, at the same time said homosexuals should be barred from holding offices in churches around the world.

Rev Henderson said homosexuals cannot claim to have been called to minister over the Church of Christ as they lacked the spiritual, theological and moral right to do so.

The clergyman said this when he gave a keynote speech during a three-day SOT Life Changing Seminar at a Kakamega hotel.

END

[ahadams2]

dunno about you folks, but that assault on Bishop Oketch sounds like a racist hate crime to me...wonder when we'll hear the leftists screaming about that one?..oh wait, the leftists were the ones who committed the hate crime...never mind....

[Conservative til I die]

And so it begins...

[polemikos]

... an uncompromising stand ...

Oh! I was given to believe that Scripture wasn't subject to compromise. Silly me.

[polemikos]

There has been a long and often close relationship between
the Anglican and Catholic Churches. In certain situations
there remains a mutual recognition of the validity of key
doctrines, liturgies, and practices. And the Catholic
Church continues to hold the faith and moral teachings as
taught by the Apostles.

I understand that there is also an Anglican Use liturgy
within the Catholic Church, wherein the Book of Common Prayer
(with minor updates) is used for the Mass. So there is no need
to lose the liturgy Anglicans are familiar with.
This Mass is valid for all Catholics as well.

Resources for those interested in the Catholic faith:

Catholic Answers
www.catholic.com
A superb site for clearing away the myths propagated by too many.
Offers free on-line library that examines all the major issues,
free on-line archive of over 1,500 hours of radio/audio material,
plus magazines, books, pamphlets, tracts, videos, and more.

Coming Home Network
www.chnetwork.org
Provides fellowship, encouragement and support for Protestant
pastors and laymen who are somewhere along the journey or
have already been received into the Catholic Church.

Biblical Evidence for Catholicism
www.biblicalcatholic.com
Dave Armstrong's monster site. Eclectic, fun, exhaustingly
detailed, personal, moving, and more.

May the Word be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path.

[ET(end tyranny)]

I see at least 3 clergymen in the article that deserve notes of thanks and praise for their stance on the topic.

[ahadams2]

I have no doubt that there will be those from the Anglo-Catholic portion of the Anglican Communion (at least here in the United States) who will be motivated to 'cross the Tiber'. Certainly the Anglican Use/ Anglican Rite Roman Catholic parishes which already exist bear witness to that as an ongoing process.

Those of us on the Evangelical (i.e. decidedly Protestant) side of Anglicanism, however, will undoubtedly remain Anglican, though in an expression of Anglicanism which leaves behind the bizarre theological developments in the Western Provinces (i.e. ECUSA, Anglican Church of Canada, C of E, etc.) over the last 50 years or so.

One thing those of you in the RC Church might want to at least talk up amongst yourselves is that the US is one of the very very few places where Anglican Rite RC parishes are allowed - perhaps it might be time for the Vatican to consider expanding the area to include all of North America, and the UK as well?

[freedom9]

Proverbs 29:2

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.

A lot of unhappy people due to recent events

[zbogwan2]

The British clerics accused the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) of taking an uncompromising stand over the controversial appointment of Rev Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire.

God's will cannot be compromised by the Gay Mob within the Anglican Church and they no it. They're just putting their sexual illicit gratification over God's wishes and they will pay dearly at the final judgement for it.