Malawi Anglicans reject pro-gay UK bishop

[Ambrosio Spinola]

Maybe they will end up playing football with his heretical head. :D

http://za.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-12-02T092719Z_01_BAN232094_RTRIDST_0_OZATP-RELIGION-ANGLICANS-MALAWI-20051202.XML

BLANTYRE (Reuters) - The Anglican Church in Malawi has rejected the appointment of a liberal British vicar as one of the country's three bishops because of his support for gay rights, a church statement said on Friday.

In a further sign of the split between African and Western Anglicans over homosexuality, the Anglican Church of Central Africa said Nicholas Henderson's prior association with a pro-gay church group "made him unsuitable for confirmation".

The statement followed a special church court of confirmation, composed of bishops from Malawi, Zambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, which considered a petition from church conservatives to block Henderson's elevation.

"The court declined to confirm Reverend Nicholas Henderson as bishop of the Lake Malawi diocese on grounds that ... (his) active association as general secretary of the Modern Church People's Union made him unsuitable for confirmation," the statement said.

The Anglican church in Malawi has close to 2 million followers and three dioceses.

Henderson is former chairman of the theologically liberal and pro-gay Modern Church People's Union. He was elected on July 29 to head the Anglican Lake Malawi diocese in the largely conservative African nation.

STATE OF SHOCK

Archbishop Bernard Malango, who leads the Anglican church in central Africa, said Henderson's rejection was directly tied to his support for gay rights.

"I already informed him about his rejection yesterday and he is in a state of shock," Malango told Reuters.

African church leaders have strongly opposed moves by other Anglican groups to extend broader recognition to gay rights -- spurring fears that the world's second largest organised church after Roman Catholicism might split.

The row gained steam amid a worldwide controversy that engulfed the Anglican Communion following the appointment of gay U.S. bishop, Gene Robinson, and a Canadian decision to bless same-sex unions.

Henderson's supporters in Malawi argued he would help raise international funds for the church -- a role he has played for some time from his current position as a vicar in London.

His opponents, however, argued strongly against the appointment, saying his "taboo" views, particularly on homosexuality, were out of step with Malawi's values.

[ironweed]

There's a movement by conservative Anglicans in the USA to switch their affiliation from their local bishops to ones out of state over this issue. Not sure how they plan to do this, but at least one Anglican priest in my area was bounced from his parish for speaking out against homoexuality.

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FEDERAL SUIT STEMS FROM CLASH OVER GAY BISHOP ; SIX EPISCOPAL CHURCHES CHALLENGE STATE DIOCESE; [5 NORTHWEST CONNECTICUT/SPORTS FINAL Edition]

Sep 28, 2005. pg. A.1

Six Episcopal churches involved in a protracted clash with Connecticut Bishop Andrew D. Smith over his support of a gay clergyman filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday, alleging that Smith and other diocese officials violated the civil and property rights of the churches' priests, members and officials.

The dispute, which has drawn national attention, ignited after Smith voted in 2003 to approve the consecration of New Hampshire's openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson. The "Connecticut Six," as the priests who lead the six parishes have been called, sought to break away from Smith and to be placed under the authority of a bishop from another state.

The lawsuit says that the priests were wrongly charged with being "out of communion" with the bishop, putting their positions in jeopardy, and that they were denied due process.

"We have been left with no choice but to seek intervention by the civil courts in order to protect our constitutional rights and serve our congregations without interference and harassment," said the Rev. Christopher Leighton, rector of St. Paul's Church in Darien, one of the churches that filed suit. "We are being punished for upholding biblical truth as well as Anglican teaching, faith and practice, and our ability to proclaim the Gospel is being dramatically hindered."

Some of the allegations in the 67-page lawsuit stem from the state Episcopal diocese's recent takeover of a Bristol parish. In July, Smith stripped the Rev. Mark Hansen of St. John's Episcopal Church of his duties as rector, and appointed the Rev. Susan J. McCone to lead the church; she was named as a defendant in the suit.

Hansen is not involved in the suit, but vestry members of St. John's who are plaintiffs in the suit charge the diocese with trespassing, seizing church property, fraudulently claiming ownership of the church and all its assets, and usurping legal and canonical rights of the church wardens and vestry.

The five rectors who filed suit with their parishes against the Episcopal diocese are Leighton; the Rev. Ronald Gauss of Bishop Seabury Church in Groton; the Rev. Gill Wilkes of Christ and the Epiphany Church in East Haven; the Rev. Donald Helmandollar of Trinity Church in Bristol, and the Rev. Allyn Benedict of Christ Church in Watertown.

Smith was out of town Tuesday attending a House of Bishops Conference in Puerto Rico, according to Leslie Tollefsen, a spokeswoman for diocese.

Frank T. Griswold III, presiding bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church, also is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, which says he refused to intervene over the charges against the priests and the seizure of St. John's -- essentially condoning Smith's actions.

The lawsuit also names Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, alleging that the state has entangled itself in the dispute because of a law that requires Episcopal parishes to operate under the rules of the Connecticut diocese.

"The Episcopal Church has been given special status that other denominations are not given," said Cynthia Brust, a spokeswoman for the six priests. "In some ways, when Bishop Smith acts, he's basically representing the government."

But Blumenthal said the state is not involved.

"We have no idea what factual or legal basis there could be for naming the attorney general of the state," Blumenthal said. "Neither I nor my office has played any role whatsoever in this ongoing controversy, which seems to be an internal religious dispute."

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The last couple of paragraphs are kind of interesting as an historical oddity. Until the 1820s or so the Episcopal Church was the Established Church in CT. Other Christian denominations were permitted but they had to pay a special tax, etc., which was turned over to the Episcopalians as a subsidy. Probably they found some old laws technically still on the books that had never been repealed but that must be dead letters, I can't believe they would stand a court challenge today.

I'll bet these non-inclusive meanie white men get shut down, given the current status of who runs the courts here.

[Lenny]

There's a movement by conservative Anglicans in the USA to switch their affiliation from their local bishops to ones out of state over this issue.Isn't there only one Episcopal church is the US, the "Protestant Episcopal Church, USA"? If the liberals have taken over the leadership of that church, why dont the conservatives just form a new Episcopal church, then they can have whichever policies they want. Plus they would instantly have millions of allies in Africa