Posted on 05/24/2006 3:16:50 PM PDT by churchillbuff
THE Bishop of Chelmsford, the Right Reverend John Gladwin, and 20 curates have been abandoned in Africa by the Anglican Church of Kenya after its Archbishop discovered his liberal views on gays.
The Bishop and his curates are in the middle of a two-week visit to Kenya, which has had links with Chelmsford for 20 years. The trip was going well, with the curates travelling to the heart of the country to visit parishes and explore how the Anglican church worked there.
But now the Archbishop of Kenya, the Most Reverend Benjamin Nzimbi, has withdrawn his hospitality because of Bishop Gladwin's support for homosexuals. He said in a statement that the Kenyan church was "unable to continue with advancing the lined-up activities with the diocese of Chelmsford".
Bishop Gladwin, who is in Kenya with his wife Lydia, was announced this month as one of four new patrons of Changing Attitude, the campaigning group that aims at the "full inclusion" of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual people in the Church of England. The Anglican Church in Kenya is part of the "Global South" group of provinces that remain fundamentally opposed to the liberal agenda adopted by provinces such as the Episcopal Church of the US.
The Bishop and his party are understood to be safe and are staying in a hotel somewhere in Embu, a diocese to the northeast of Nairobi.
Mobile telephone reception is poor and his chaplain, the Reverend Chris Newlands, who is in Chelmsford, has only been able to speak briefly to Bishop Gladwin.
The Diocese of Embu is wild and remote and off the beaten track in the central highlands of Kenya. It has been hit in the past by outbreaks of typhoid and malaria.
"As there is not much to see or do here, not many travellers hang about," reports the travel website Go2Africa.com. The main town serves as the provincial headquarters for Kenya's eastern province and has an Anglican cathedral, St Paul's. Mr Newlands said that the trip had been more than a year in the planning: "The pronouncement of the Archbishop has given the bishops of the diocese no alternative but to withdraw their hospitality. Bishop John is doing his best to try and heal this problem."
He said that the Bishop, who is chairman of Christian Aid, was "greatly surprised and saddened" by what had happened, as the visit was intended to be wholly devoted to building on the links between the dioceses.
In a statement relayed through his chaplain, Bishop Gladwin said: "I hope that we can get over this misunderstanding and make clear our determination to carry forward the Lambeth Resolutions, and to learn how God is at work in all his people in England and in Kenya."
Last year Bishop Gladwin was forced to cancel a visit to Trinidad and Tobago after the invitation was withdrawn. Again the issue was Bishop Gladwin's support for gays.
Opps I mis-spoke. Actually it was fire from Heaven.
Isn't it usually referred to as "Deepest, Darkest Africa"?
BTW, Embu is quite harmless. The Bishop is in no danger there.
"Simply abandoning him outright, in a dangerous area, seems harsh to me."
Perhaps this is the proper response to someone who turned their back on the church and its teachings first. Perhaps he realized that he was dealing with an apostate anglican rather than an apostolic anglican.
I can respect that. If you don't want to follow the doctrine of a church, don't be in it since no one is forcing you to.
I didn't know that, my mistake.
Because of hate speech laws, age of consent laws, marriage laws, child rearing etc.
Look to Sweden, Canada, etc to see our future if a firm foot is not put down immediately.
The gay lobby was quite influential in Canada's age of consent laws being reduced to 14. Or, a pastor in Sweden was recently put under arrest for speaking out against gay behavior. In the more liberal Scandanavian countries, marriage is on a death spiral, and it was either the Netherlands or Sweden where three people just got hitched in a civil union (all this happened as marriage was redefined so gays didn't get their feelings hurt).
Read some of the blog posts from Brussels Journal and other English speaking Scandanavian blogs to see the slippery slope to soft socialist totalitarianism, where a blind eye is being turned towards behaviors such as rape of native swedish girls by muslim immigrants, because it's not PC to speak out, and the cowardly media/government won't acknowledge the problem. Or the fact that being a "breeder" is no longer considered desirable, and the more fertile muslim immigrants are slowly replacing their hosts.
We have some major threats we need to face in this country, including the Mexican invasion, the war against Islamic expansionism, the ever hungry Chinese dragon, and socialist bullies to the south. We can't afford to go wobbly, but the social order that fosters and promotes items like gay marriage has no courage, and does not love this country.
They would let the west die. I'm personally rather opposed to that idea.
Does anyone here know if there's an Anglican ping list and who I'd contact if so?
"Abandoned in deepest Africa? I can think of at least 50 politicians I would like to see join him."
I can see the headlines now "Congressional Junket goes Awry". That's most satisfying.
Good points. Can anyone here point me to some research on the effects of homosexual parents or gay marriage. I always get the same lines from my friends and co-workers that gay marriage and homosexual parents are just fine. I want some evidence to back up my arguments with them.
That boy ain't comin' back.
"I'm not saying this to be rude to Catholics or anyone for that matter, but why all of the worry about homosexuals as of late? They're such an insignificant portion of the population, does anyone really care what they're doing?"
Because the "love that dare not speak it's name" has turned into "the love that won't STFU". Gays don't bother me (with the exception of NAMBLA) but they want to trumpet their lifestyle from the rooftops and what's worse they want to indoctrinate schoolchildren. Enough is enough already.
I agree completely. They don't really bother me as long as they don't push the agenda on society so to speak. I do think that instead of them just living out their lives and leaving marriage and children alone is a problem.
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BUMP
That's odd considering homosexuality is still illegal there (well technically!).
What was the misunderstanding? That Africa would BOHICA?
God will provide for the faithful, right?
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