Monday, June 23, 2008

Conservative Anglicans to discuss Communion split

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN325596.html

[Reuters] 23 Jun 2008--Conservative Anglican leaders on Sunday began a week of discussions in Jerusalem on the future of the worldwide Communion and warned of a parting of ways with liberal churches.

"The Communion is in a state of brokenness," Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola, leader of the conservative movement in the 77-million-strong Communion, told hundreds of participants in a fiery speech at the start of the conference.

Akinola stopped short of saying a schism was imminent but described the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) as a last chance effort to find a way to restore the Communion.
The conservatives, who claim to represent 35 million Anglicans, mostly in developing countries, have been hinting at a split within the Communion at least since Anglicanism's first openly gay bishop was consecrated in the United States.

GAFCON comes a month before the Lambeth conference, the once-in-a-decade Anglican summit hosted by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams that agrees on guidelines for member churches.

When asked if it was the first step to declaring independence from Canterbury, Henry Orombi, Archbishop of Uganda, said: "Perhaps a question like that is best answered at the end (of the conference) rather than at the beginning."

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