Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, the Most Rev Nicholas Okoh, and other traditionalists may boycott a summit of Anglican leaders chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury because the latter is too liberal over homosexuality.
Daily Mail reports that at least two African archbishops will not attend the October gathering as Archbishop Justin Welby has also invited their liberal counterparts from the US and Scotland, who already conduct gay marriages in church.
Insiders said four or five other conservative archbishops from Africa and Asia could also boycott the Canterbury summit of the leaders of the 70 million-strong Anglican Communion, of which the Archbishop of Canterbury is nominal leader. The snub would be a fresh blow to Archbishop Welby’s efforts to prevent a permanent split in global Anglicanism.
Conservative archbishops, led by Okoh, on Friday consecrated Canon Andy Lines at a meeting in America after warning that Western churches were abandoning biblical teaching on gay marriage.
The archbishops say the new missionary bishop would support disaffected Anglicans who quit in protest at the Scottish Episcopal Church’s decision to become the first Anglican body in the UK to allow same-sex marriage in its churches.
But Canon Lines, a former British Army tank commander and father-of-three from Surrey, will also minister to traditionalist parishes that break away from the Church of England.
At the consecration held in the United States of America, Okoh urged the new bishop to “avoid fruitless controversies… and meetings”.
Archbishop Welby is also coming under fresh pressure from Church of England liberals to lift the ban on same-sex marriages in English churches. The Dean of Westminster Abbey, John Hall, broke his silence last week to urge the reform.
A source close to the conservative archbishops said that some had decided not to go to the summit and some were still making up their minds.
He added: “If the Archbishop of Canterbury wants to be certain of having the majority of the Anglican Communion in attendance, it isn’t complicated. He can choose not to invite those few, small provinces who have unrepentantly torn the fabric of the Communion.”
