why we may boycott lambeth conference – akinola

Source: Nigerian Tribune

RELIGION – November 6, 2007: Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Most Reverend Peter Akinola, has explained why Nigerian bishops are insisting on the postponement of next year’s Lambeth Conference.

Archbishop Akinola said on Sunday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that “we want more time to reconcile our differences on the thorny issue of homosexuality.”

The Lambeth Conference, a once-a-decade meeting of all Anglican bishops, is usually held in London under the chairmanship of the Archbishop of Canterbury and is slated for June.

According to Akinola, Nigerian bishops had not “fully decided” on whether they would attend.

“At present, the Anglican Church is so divided. There is so much distrust and disrespect. Even basic courtesies are lacking among the bishops.

“What kind of communion do you have when you have bishops from all over the world coming together and you cannot even have fellowship or share the Lord's Supper?” he asked

“What we are doing now is to tell the authorities in Lambeth Palace (Archbishop of Canterbury) the conditions that must be met if we are to attend.

“The first condition is that all bishops in Nigeria must be invited because, as it is now, they have excluded one bishop.

“We have told them that failure to invite any of our bishops is failure to invite all of us because that one bishop did not make himself a bishop,” he said.

Saying that the cost of sponsoring Nigeria's 130 bishops and their wives to London for the one-month conference was enormous, Akinola said there was no need to go there for “jamboree.”

The June meeting had remained under threat with Anglican leaders unable to resolve the homosexual crisis currently rocking the foundations of the church.

The crisis reached a crescendo after the consecration in 2002 of a self-confessed homosexual, Gene Robinson, as Bishop of New Hampshire, by the United States Episcopal Church.

Virtue Online Note: The Lambeth Conference is usually held in Canterbury not London.