church stand on gay priests made tutu ashamed to be anglican

Source: Houston Voice

October 2, 2006: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in the first authorized biography of the Nobel Peace laureate, said he was ashamed of his Anglican Church’s conservative position that rejected gay priests. Excerpts from the book, “Rabble-rouser for Peace” by his former press secretary John Allen, were scheduled to appear in South Africa on Sept. 22 and the biography was scheduled for release in time for Tutu’s 75th birthday on Oct. 7. The retired archbishop was critical of Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams for bowing on the gay priest issue to conservative elements, particularly African bishops, in the 77-million member Anglican Church that includes Episcopalians in the United States. In a 1998 letter to Williams’ predecessor, Archbishop George Carey, Tutu wrote he was “ashamed to be Anglican.” It came after the Lambeth Conference of Bishops rejected the ordination of practicing homosexuals saying their sexual relations were “incompatible with scripture.”