Posted on 06/28/2002 7:06:33 AM PDT by Grig
A controversial African archbishop has waded into the dispute dividing Vancouver Anglicans, warning the city's bishop he will ''protect'' priests who oppose the blessing of same-sex couples.
The warning yesterday by Emmanuel Kolini -- Archbishop of Rwanda and leader of a group of breakaway Anglicans in the United States -- deepens a crisis created two weeks ago in the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster.
The diocese became the first in Canada to approve gay and lesbian unions in a rite similar to a marriage ceremony. Although 63% of parish delegates approved the plan, priests and worshippers from eight conservative parishes walked out of a diocesan meeting in protest.
One breakaway priest from the diocese, which encompasses Greater Vancouver, said yesterday the orthodox B.C. parishes could join the Anglican Mission in America, a breakaway faction of U.S. conservatives led by Archbishop Kolini who oppose gay and lesbian rights within the Anglican Church.
The conservative faction says the blessing of same-sex unions violates Anglican principles, and its members have since appealed to the worldwide Church for help. This dispute has suddenly become a flashpoint for an international Christian denomination deeply polarized over gay rights within the Church.
Michael Ingham, the Bishop of New Westminster, has said priests and parishes in his diocese can choose according to conscience whether or not to bless same-sex unions.
However, local priests say they could be disciplined, or have their licences pulled, for refusing to refer such couples to another parish willing to perform same-sex blessings.
"It's ridiculous," says Rev. Ed Hird, one of the breakaway priests.
"It's like if someone wanted to buy drugs from me, I could say no, but I'd have to refer them to the pusher down the street."
In a letter yesterday to Rev. Hird and his Vancouver allies, Archbishop Kolini says, "We deeply regret the threats toward you and numerous others concerning your clerical licences. Please know that we will not recognize any such efforts.
"We hope that there will soon come a reasonable response through the Archbishop of Canterbury for this case of exceptional emergency, which is obviously incapable of internal resolution."
Bishop Ingham says Archbishop Kolini has his facts wrong, and no priest would face sanctions for refusing to refer a same-sex couple to a welcoming parish.
As for Archbishop Kolini's threat of intervention in Vancouver, Bishop Ingham says flatly: "He has no jurisdiction in Canada."
George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the global Anglican Communion, has condemned the decision of New Westminster to bless same-sex couples, but has urged the diocese not to break apart over the issue.
And although seven other Anglican archbishops -- from Australia, Latin America, Asia and Africa -- have also criticized the decision, Archbishop Kolini is the first to actively meddle in the affairs of the self-governing diocese.
In February, 2000, Archbishop Kolini was widely condemned for consecrating American priests as bishops, and for sending them back to the United States to minister to conservative parishes.
At the time, one of his accusers was Archbishop Michael Peers, leader of the Anglican Church in Canada, who attacked Archbishop Kolini for interfering in the affairs of another Anglican region.
"Bishops are not intercontinental ballistic missiles, manufactured on one continent and fired into another as an act of aggression," he said.
Archbishop Peers did not answer a request for an interview yesterday.
Rev. Hird said Archbishop Kolini's letter means aggrieved conservative priests in Vancouver might remove their parishes from the Diocese of New Westminster and ally themselves with the Anglican Mission in America, under Archbishop Kolini's leadership.
Rev. Hird said most orthodox priests would prefer to remain within the diocese, but for that to happen either the Anglican Church in Canada or the Archbishop of Canterbury must take firm action against diocesan bishops who permit the recognition of gay and lesbian unions.
Let me see if I get this straight (no pun intended). This diocese is doing something that has never been done, has been condemned by the leader of the communion to which this diocese belongs, yet those opposed to it comprise the "breakaway faction" and "meddlers"?
Paging George Orwell.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.