The news that Akinola was coming to the US was broken by “The Lead” earlier this past week. But now, as more information is coming out, here’s the NY Times take on it.
Link: Visit by Anglican Bishop Draws Episcopal Anger – New York Times.
The Anglican archbishop of Nigeria, a fierce critic of the Episcopal Church for its acceptance of homosexuality, is arriving next week to install a bishop to lead congregations around the country that want to break from it.
Episcopal leaders say the visit threatens to strain further the already fragile relations between their church and the rest of the worldwide Anglican Communion. But Episcopal traditionalists say there is a growing desire among them to break away. A decision by the Episcopal Church in 2003 to consecrate an openly gay priest, V. Gene Robinson, as the bishop of New Hampshire profoundly alienated those theological traditionalists, and most of the Anglican Communion overseas, who contend that the Bible condemns homosexuality.
I wish +Akinola would just stay home. It’s merely ascerbating an already tenuous situation — which is, I imagine, precisely why he’s coming.
If the conservative diocese want to split I wish they would just go ahead and do it so we can get on with the business of the Gospel. We (and especially the GLBT brothers and sisters) have been held hostage and used as pawns in a gigantic power game far too long. Just let’s get some resolution, even if it means TEC must walk alone.