In any early March of this year the Primate of All Nigeria, the Most Rev. Nicholas D. Okoh, BA, MA, Fss LL.D, addressed the Church of Nigeria Standing Committee. His statement has just been released on the Church of Nigeria website.
What he said about CANA is particularly cryptic:
CANA
The ministry of CANA under the able leadership of Bishop Martyn Minns and his wife is going on well, within the obvious limits of funds, facilities and manpower. At the appropriate time issues of additional manpower and the whole range of issues about finance vis-à-vis the desire for additional grouping (emerging “dioceses”) will be discussed. We repeat our appeal to our Lord Bishops to apply restraint in granting preferment to clergy abroad, especially in the USA as it has really made the clergymen there quite unruly. We also repeat the appeal for Bishops to respect CANA as a jurisdiction and avoid tendencies that are un-Anglican.
Does anyone have a handle on what he means by any of this?
Some further extracts. Homosexuality is still very much on his mind, as it was his predecessor’s.:
Visit to the UK:
In our meeting in Lagos, we were mandated to visit the UK to ascertain the condition of Nigerian Anglicans, and how to help them. …
The delegation was well received by the Nigerian High Commission in London. There was a brief meeting and an interactive section. The group also visited the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace. Our message:
The need to allow Nigerians to worship “the Nigeria way” in abandoned Church buildings or allow them a scheduled time in parish Churches where they could express themselves unreservedly in worship, to save us from the unceasing and intense bleeding of our young executive Anglicans moving over to the New Generation Churches due to what they describe as “cold” worship style. Our request was viewed positively by the Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of All England. We also visited the Lord Bishop of London and the Bishop of Southwark. Other places visited include Manchester and Birmingham. In summary the Archbishop requested us to put our proposal into writing. He assured us that it is a practical proposal. We addressed a group of Nigerians of different age brackets in London, Manchester and Birmingham and had a special session with representatives of Nigerian Clergy in the UK. Our visit was said to be timely. But a few had their reservations.
…
CANA
The ministry of CANA under the able leadership of Bishop Martyn Minns and his wife is going on well, within the obvious limits of funds, facilities and manpower. At the appropriate time issues of additional manpower and the whole range of issues about finance vis-à-vis the desire for additional grouping (emerging “dioceses”) will be discussed. We repeat our appeal to our Lord Bishops to apply restraint in granting preferment to clergy abroad, especially in the USA as it has really made the clergymen there quite unruly. We also repeat the appeal for Bishops to respect CANA as a jurisdiction and avoid tendencies that are un-Anglican.
CAPA
We remain an active branch of CAPA. Five of our Bishops were in Nairobi for a CAPA training programme in the first week of February. The report submitted by Bishop Adekunle on behalf of the participants described the one week training as very helpful. The CAPA Primates will meet in Nairobi in April to assess the situation in the worldwide communion to continue to plan its work of mission and evangelism.
GAFCON
Gafcon is alive and well. There will be leaders meeting this year in New York, which will have an ecumenical character. Church leaders other than Anglicans who share our stand on the contentious issue of human sexuality and same-sex unions will be invited. The full Gafcon Congress will hold almost certainly in Jerusalem again in 2012. We ask for your prayers, for effective planning and execution.
GLOBAL SOUTH
Under the leadership of the Global South and CAPA, a decision was taken to stay away from the Dublin Primates’ Meeting after sharing some thorny issues with the Archbishop of Canterbury through an official letter after our meeting at Singapore and face to face at Entebbe, Uganda. The issues raised in our Singapore letter which were also discussed at Entebbe were not treated with the seriousness they deserved. Quite apart from the raging issues of human sexuality there was the whole issue of the Agenda for the meeting. The Global South has now been vindicated by the new proposal for a law to authorise the solemnization of same-sex marriages in Churches and other places of worship in the UK. Thankfully, the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church have objected to it. But how long can they hold out, in view of heavy pressures from politicians, journalists, human rights campaigners, legal officers and institutions and a very vocal homosexual minority?
…
In conclusion, let me remind you of the great significance of this great gathering at the threshold of 2011 general elections to our Church and to our nation – the captivity must come to an end. The Anglican Church, and Nigeria, through the former must receive a new touch of God for today and the future.
Thank you for your kind attention.
+ Nicholas, Abuja
March 3, 2011