Exactly one month after the terrorist attack on the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi (News, 27 September), 1200 people are expected to gather in the city to attend GAFCON II.
The Archbishop of Canterbury will preach at a eucharist at All Saints’ Cathedral in the Kenyan capital, the day before the conference opens there. He will not attend the conference, owing to “long-standing commitments”, a statement from Lambeth Palace said, but will record a video greeting.
The Archbishop will be the guest of the Primate of Kenya, Dr Eliud Wabukala, who chairs the GAFCON Primates Council, from 19 to 20 October. The “flying visit” to Nairobi was “to be in close solidarity following the recent terrorist attack”.
This is what? The third press release from Lambeth Palace that neglects to mention that ++Welby is meeting with the Gafcon Primates while he is in Kenya. Indeed, THAT is the real purpose of the trip. Has he changed his mind? Perhaps step one in finding “ways in which we continue to love each other” would be to start telling the truth.