Bishops in deadlock on gay priests

[24/07/98 - Clare Garner - Web - http://www.independent.co.uk/]

Bishops at the Lambeth Conference yesterday refused to compromise on the issue of practising homosexuals in the church. Neither side was prepared to give way, a senior clergyman said after angry clashes during discussions on the issue. 

The Bishop of Johannesburg, the Right Rev Duncan Buchanan, who is in charge of the debates on homosexuality at the conference, said his fellow bishops held such polarised views on the subject that a two-way conversation was virtually impossible. Of the first meeting, he said: "They were articulate, but I don't think there was much listening." 

The gathering in Canterbury of Anglican bishops from all over the world is being dominated by sharp divisions over the issue of practising gay priests and same-sex unions. Bishop Buchanan said he doubted whether plans for an international commission to discuss the ordination of gays and the blessing of same-sex marriages would come to fruition. "I believe that for many people that would not be the best way forward," he said, adding that the best possible outcome would be if bishops agreed to disagree. 

"One of the things we will almost certainly have to do in our report is say we reached no consensus on this. That's an honest statement. We are not trying to say all is well or that we are all at war with each other," he added. 

Doubts about the commission will dismay the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey. While he takes a "traditional" line on the subject of homosexuality, in his capacity as head of the Anglican Communion he has endorsed the idea of a commission to examine the issue. 

Conservative and evangelical bishops from Africa and the southern hemisphere are bitterly opposed to homosexual clergy, and object to the subject being discussed at all. They regard the problem of international debt as far more pressing, and maintain that homosexuality is "a white man's disease". 

However, at the press briefing yesterday, Bishop Buchanan said: "While many people are saying that it is a white man's importation, much of the evidence is that homosexuality - particularly with men - is practised extensively throughout Africa. It's not quite as innocent as you think." He also reminded the conference that "homosexuality does not mean paedophilia. Some of the most aggressive paedophiles are heterosexuals". 

Pressure on the Church to confront the issue has come mainly from liberal American bishops, led by the controversial Bishop of Newark, New Jersey, the Right Rev John Spong, and the UK-based Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM). The Bishop of Edinburgh, the Right Rev Richard Holloway, yesterday launched the LGCM's "Rainbow Ribbon Day", calling upon bishops to wear a ribbon in support of a "truly inclusive Church". 

Speaking on the morning after the Lords struck out a Commons amendment to reduce the homosexual age of consent from 18 to 16, Bishop Holloway said: "If the Church is to be true to the all-embracing nature of Christ's love, it will one day have to accept with joy the fact that among God's children are gay and lesbian people." 

He rejected suggestions that the pro-gay lobby was trying to hijack the conference, but added: "We hope that some time will be found to think about the injustice that has been done to generations of gays and lesbians, God's hidden people, misunderstood, maligned, persecuted and killed. It is in our day and in our culture that they have finally said 'enough', and walked out of the shadows to claim their place in God's light." 

The discussion on sexuality is one of 20 sections of the Lambeth Conference which are being held in private this week and next. 

In the final week of the conference, the different sections will propose resolutions on their assigned subjects, which will be debated at plenary meetings. 

Bishop Buchanan said that bishops had opted for his section "in order to protect [their] point of view" and had no illusions about the depths of disagreement. "One of the delegates said they don't even have a word in their vocabulary for homosexuality."