An article in the Religious Intelligence (a website published in the United Kingdom) reports that the retired bishop of the Rio Grande, Terrence Kelshaw, has been received into the Anglican province of the Church of Uganda.
The article has the details of his move:
“Bishop Kelshaw was until his retirement a Bishop with The Episcopal Church USA, and was among those who were against liberal moves within the Anglican Communion. ‘I have requested and been received into the province of the Church of Uganda. I sense security and unity with that decision,’ Bishop Kelshaw told Uganda’s independent Daily Monitor.
The retired bishop was called to serve as an interim pastor to one of the Churches in California, according to the Rev Alison Barfoot, assistant to Archbishop Orombi, in charge of international relations.
Bishop Kelshaw becomes the second bishop to join the Anglican Church of Uganda after the Rt Rev John Guernsey, who was anointed a Ugandan Bishop for the American flocks who have left the Episcopal Church.
The article then continues with a list of charges brought against the Episcopal Church by a former Episcopal priest who now serves on Archbishop Orombi’s staff in Kenya. The charges are apparently the reasoning behind the move made by Bishop Kelshaw:
The Daily Monitor of Uganda dated Feb 26, 2006, said: ‘The Episcopal Church USA is known for having consecrated a gay bishop, Gene Robinson, in 2005, an action that is against the teachings of the Anglican Church.’
‘The gay argument is just simplistic. There are so many differences between the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church,’ Dr Barfoot told the paper.
She claimed the Episcopal Church does believe that the Bible has authority, ‘they don’t believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and its bishops don’t believe in the Virgin Mary while some do not believe that Jesus was born.’
It is such differences of theological interpretation that has prompted the Anglican Church of Uganda and others within the worldwide Anglican Communion to announce that they would boycott this year’s Lambeth Conference slated for July-August, in the UK.”
Read the rest here.