Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi will consecrate two American priests fleeing the liberal US church over a gay clergy crisis.
Nzimbi will consecrate Bill Atwood and Bill Murdoch on August 30, as assistant bishops in the province of Kenya.
This latest move will create more conservative African outposts amid the liberal American mainstream, which sparked off the divisions by its consecration of gay bishops.
“We are not undermining anybody’s authority. We are saving a situation of people who so much need us,” Nzimbi told Reuters in response to criticism that African bishops were violating church rules.
Ugandan Archbishop, Mr Henry Orombi, also supported the decision.
“In Uganda, we have provided a home for refugees from Congo, Rwanda and Sudan,” said Orombi, who is consecrating John Guernsey of Virginia on September 2. “Now, we are also providing a home for ecclesiastical refugees from America,” he added.
Is this accurate?
“In Uganda, we have provided a home for refugees from Congo, Rwanda and Sudan,” said Orombi, who is consecrating John Guernsey of Virginia on September 2. “Now, we are also providing a home for ecclesiastical refugees from America,” he added.”
To place the “ecclesiastical refuggees from America” on the same moral plane as refugees from war torn congo, sudan and Rwanda? That some how these things are of a moral equivalence and urgency for refuge? Do some really beleive this?
I think the language is not necessarily meant for American ears as it is meant for fellow Africans which understand the refuge problem only too well. I speak from my experience. You see, we have just returned from Uganda and there is quite a competition for the souls of men and women there from the advances being made by Islam. There is a brand new mosque in Kampala, built by oil money from Libya that almost completely overshadows Namirembe Cathedral. Word on the streets in Uganda is that converts to Islam are being offered $75.00. As the average income level in Sub-Saharan E. Africa is $2 per day, this is quite an inducement.
What the TES Bishops, particularly those who were so harsh against ++Orombi,++ Ackinola, ++Kolini, etc after the Tanzanian Communique, continue to fail to understand is that Islam uses the watering down of scripture as an indictment against Christianity. And in a way, who could disagree, as it would appear that those most on fire in their faith have a deeper appreciation for the teachings in scripture. For those that take the scriptures seriously as in Africa, where it is a serious matter, I can appreciate the language of “Ecclesiastical Refugee†used by ++Orombi. If you travelled to E. Africa you might appreciate it too.
aldenjr,
I’m glad you’ve traveld and done some work overseas for the gospel. It’s hard to argue with experience, but it doesn’t help to assume things about other people you know nothing about. But, it is a clever argument style to say “you haven’t expreinced it, so you don’t know.” That doesn’t really help the conversation.
I think you are correct that the competition for converts between Islam and Christianity is fierce in Africa and other parts of the world. However, what Orombi is talking about is people in the USA. To say that somehow, the reasserter or orthodox anglicans in america are under the same life and death struggle as a refugee from the Congo, Sudan or Rwanda is a mighty leap. His refrence is toward that end.
Do the reasserters really believe this? Is your life threatened and in danger so much that you need a “refugee” bishop to save you?
NO, our earthly “lives” are not particularly threatened, but our eternal souls might be. And for sure, those of our children.
True, we will probably not have our heads hacked off, but for sure the Gospel, as it was given to the Church, will be all be silenced by those who claim, “all is well”, “all will be well”.
I bless God every day for these Godly men who volunteer to care for his sheep who may indeed be lost, not only from Anglicanism, but to any church life at all..
Gloria
Grandmother,
You are right on target.
The decision before Episcopalians who are aware of the transgressions of ECUSA’s leadership is a Salvation issue.
Those who knowingly ignore and continue to follow heretical leadership put their own immortal souls in extreme danger.
What is being done by ECUSA’s leadership is a ‘deconstruction’ of Christianity within ECUSA. Nothing more and nothing less.
Granny, you’re far more in accord with scripture than plainsparson. ‘Don’t fear him who can harm the body; rather, fear him who can harm the soul’.
In faith, Dave
Viva Texas
Dear Plainsparson:
As a TEC priest I would hope that you would put salvation on a very high moral plane. If one believes that TEC is heretical and its teachings or lack thereof could be an impetiment to one’s eternal salvation – then the answer to your question should be “yes”.
plainsparson, you say:
[blockquote]But, it is a clever argument style to say “you haven’t expreinced it, so you don’t know.â€[/blockquote]
How ironic of you to use the GBLT argument that we can’t say same-sex unions are against Scripture without knowing some nice gay couples and use it against those fleeing heresy, which as other commenters have pointed out, places our ETERNAL lives in danger. What’s sauce for the goose…
Milton,
I don’t think you read what I wrote. I was refering to an earlier post, when the person dismissed my question by infering that I couldn’t understand because that person assumed i haven’t been to east africa. I didn’t really mention anything about GLBT arguments. isn’t this about salvation and biblical authority?
I’m one of those people who believe that Jesus’ actions in his life, death and resurection assured the salvation of all who beleive in him. And it’s that belief that is required of us. I just don’t see how the situation in TEC is somehow equivalant to the suffering in Sudan, Rwanda and the Congo. I mean, come on. The people in Darfur are dying for being a christian- they certainly need refuge. The reasserters in TEC aren’t dying. Yet, the same language is used. Then I may have missed the story about the United Liberation Army of Spong killing the reasserters in Newark.
plainsparson, I certainly did read your comment and the one to which you were replying. ++Orombi was not drawing a moral equivalence between refugees from genocide and those who no longer find TEC a safe spiritual home. But beware of placing your faith in TEC as did apostate Israel in its rituals, incanting “the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord”. Jesus told the disciples what would happen to Herod’s temple, much as had happened to Solomon’s temple. I was simply saying what commenters #4-7 above said, that it is even more important to see to our eternal lives than our earthly lives. By the way, could you flesh out what “salvation” means for you? From what are we saved, how are we saved, by what or whom are we saved, and for what are we saved? Much of that is left unsaid or implied differently than the NT in many a TEC pulpit.
#9 plain parson you make a good point, in that belief in Jesus Christ is required of us. You cannot isolate that belief from the Law, else Jesus would have set aside all OT law, but He pointedly did not. Temple Procedural Law, yes. Civil Law, yes. But moral code? Not for a second.
And Grandmother is correct. And it is this same thinking that a Battle for Souls is certainly more important than a Battle for Lives. Putting human comfort and self-esteem before salvation is what has led to the moral equivalency permeating TEC at this time. We’re so afraid to hurt another’s feelings, or reject their behaviors. Jesus hurt people’s feelings all the time, rejected accepted behaviors en masse as he forced them to look beyond their own comfort zones.
So, let’s talk about what reasserters can honestly do, if we take away CANA, or AMIA, or any other imported orthodox option:
We can become more Protestant–and surrender the Eucharist, Communion of Saints, and English Catholic Tradition
or
We can become more Catholic–and perhaps rejoin Rome or Constantinople at the cost of placing the TRADITION pillar of faith well above Scripture or Reason as we embrace the inerrancy of the Pope and Matisterium, or the Patriarch of Constantinople in all things theological.
or
We can stay within the Church, surrender to the innovation and allow Scripture to be devalued in our Faith Journey.
or
We can stay, hold on to the truth, and remain a perennial thorn in the side of the Liberal Heirarchy (my personal favorite).
None of these options sound particularly attractive to a real Anglican like myself (real meaning 1928 Prayerbook and Scripture First real). So, although I will not flee TEC because I prefer to fight from within, there is no sense minimalizing the urgency or importance of those who will go to an Orthodox Option that preserves a Via Media for them.
So, while you may find the statement equating orthodox choices of worship and allegiance with the harboring of political refugees offensive, I would say that if anything the good Bishop’s analogy is understated as to the urgency of this situation. Or as Dumbledore is fond of saying, “Harry, there are worse things than death.”
KTF!….mrb
While I appreciate the position of plainparson, and agree with him completely on the falsity of the comparison given by our African critic, I must correct one statement. The people of Darfur are not dying because they are Christians. In fact they are Muslims. They are dying because they are Africans being oppressed and assaulted by Arabs. The genocide in Darfur is an ethnic conflict, rather than a religious one. The long-running Christian-Musliim cum ethinic war that took place in southern Sudan was a different conflict.