Bishop of Jerusalem meets with organizers of GAFCON
From the minutes:
The Rev’d Canon Dr Chris Sugden then posed the question in what way the conference was imposing on the diocese?The Guardian reports on the meetings here.The Rev’d Canon Hosam answered that the conference was imposing the issue of homosexuality on the diocese.
The Rev’d Canon Dr Chris Sugden responded by saying that this conference was not about homosexuality.
The Rev’d Canon Hosam replied by reminding Archbishop Akinola that he had referred to the split of the Anglican Communion in 2003.
Archbishop Akinola refrained from answering. Instead, he said that he could not understand how this conference would have all these impacts on the diocese.
The Very Rev’d Michael Sellors highlighted that this could not be fully understood unless you lived in the Holy Land and experienced the sensitivity. ...
Archbishop Akinola then said, that this was a pilgrimage and wondered what the difference was to other pilgrimages.
The Rev’d Canon Hosam responded by saying that this was not only a pilgrimage, since the Archbishop himself was talking about a conference with an agenda.
Archbishop Akinola replied that he would be happy to change the terminology and refrain from calling it a conference, in which case he would call it a pilgrimage.
Comments from Sarah Dylan Breuer at Anglicana.
In any case, none of the Jerusalem Christians present were going to buy the line that GAFCON isn't really a convention -- at least not as it's currently being organized. And so, although he hadn't been asked his opinion on what might help, Bishop Suheil rather generously offered a suggestion: that Akinola's agenda be spilt in two, with the conference taking place in Cyprus so what happened in Jerusalem could be a pilgrimage only.
Hat tip to Thinking Anglicans which provides further links.
In this section of the minutes, Bishop Dawani makes it pretty clear that Gafcon is not welcome in his diocese:
Bishop Suheil closed the discussion by saying that for the sake of making progress in this discussion he would like to suggest that Archbishop Akinola either reconsiders the venue and time for the conference, or divides his program into two parts: to have the conference in Cyprus, and to have a pure pilgrimage in the Holy Land.
Should Archbishop Akinola be ready to accept this suggestion, Bishop Suheil would warmly welcome him and his pilgrims.
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January 22, 2008 9:38 AM