An article in the Times Online reports that a group of deputies to the Church of England’s General Synod and one of her bishops has written in public support of the episcopal ordinations of American clergy taking place this week in Kenya and this weekend in Uganda:
“The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, headed a list of more than 30 members of the Church of England’s General Synod who sent a message to the two new bishops backing their episcopal ministry, even though acknowledging it is ‘out of the ordinary’.
They said: ‘You will represent vibrant and growing Churches in Africa in their love and care for those in the United States who are suffering for their commitment to the faith once delivered to the saints, in the face of a determined capitulation by The Episcopal Church to the forces of contemporary North American culture.
‘We see in your ministry a wonderful expression of the Gospel promise that there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, but all are one in Christ Jesus. For African Christians who live in economically poorer countries are taking considerable risks in their relations with powerful institutions in order to care for American Christians in economically privileged countries.
‘We see here the universal church responding to the needs of local churches, and the local church responding to the need of the universal church, to find a way to preserve global orthodox Anglican witness and fellowship, that is not impaired by man-made intermediate structures.”
Read the rest: US priests become Kenyan bishops in gay protest