The globetrotting archbishop of Nigeria was recently in Texas. You can read about his meeting with Bishop Jack Iker of Forth Worth here. Bishop Iker’s is one of four dioceses in the Episcopal Church that doesn’t ordain women. Apparently he’s decided to support Akinola’s thus-far futile effort to build himself a constituency in the United States.
What is curious is what a low profile the archbishop is keeping. If the Diocese of Fort Worth hadn’t posted this letter, only Akinola’s closest advisors would have known he was in the country. That is a stark contrast to his previous very public excursions to the United States when he gave speeches, accepted awards and sat for interviews. It makes you wonder what, or who, he is afraid of. And it makes you wonder if his supporters in this country have realized what a liability he has become.
Were Akinola to make a public appearance, reporters would ask about his ill-chosen words regarding the sectarian violence in his country, about his support for repressive anti-gay legislation that has raised concerns in the U. S. State Department and among human rights groups, and about his church’s ongoing attempts to smear the man who is trying to start a group for gay Christians in Nigeria.
And they might also ask why, having declared two days of mourning for the victims of the recent violence in his country, the archbishop didn’t feel it necessary to actually be in the country on those days.
The difficult fact for Akinola and his American acolytes like Bishop Robert Duncan and Canon Martyn Minns is that the more people see of him, the better they like the Episcopal Church.