Clergy's visit to focus on Aids

2005-07-18 12:29

Nairobi - Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams will visit Kenya this week to discuss HIV/Aids and conflict resolution in Africa's volatile Great Lakes region in a trip likely to be overshadowed by a controversy over homosexuality, church officials said on Monday.

Williams, the spiritual head of the 77-million-strong Anglican communion, will visit Kenya on Wednesday "for a meeting on HIV/Aids and conflicts in the Great Lakes region", said Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) spokesperson Job Githinji said.

Speaking about homosexuality

But Williams, who is currently in Bujumbura where he presided at the enthronement of a new Archbishop of Burundi on Sunday, is expected to be pressed by Anglican leaders in Kenya on the issue of homosexuality, church officials said.

They said they would raise and defend the decision by African churches to sever ties and reject funding from their counterpart in the United States, the US Episcopal church, over its consecration of a gay bishop in 2003.

"Our position is very clear; we have nothing to do with anybody who supports homosexuality," Githinji said, a position echoed by another senior church official.

"The issue of gay bishops is not on the agenda, but we shall bring it up now that the head of the Anglican church is here," said the official on condition of anonymity.

"It's a difficult time for the church, especially in dealing with issues like Aids, because we cannot work or co-ordinate with our colleagues who are backing homosexuality," the official said.

"We will sit with him and hear what he has to say," the ACK official said.

Severing ties over gay bishop

In November 2003, the ACK severed ties with the US Episcopal church and subsequently rejected funding after the consecration of Gene Robinson, an openly gay pastor, as bishop of New Hampshire.

The move by the US church came despite fierce objections from dissenting conservative clergy, particularly in Africa and has increased fears of a permanent schism within the Anglican faith worldwide.

The threat of a split in the Anglican church is especially great in developing countries, where many church leaders believe and preach that the practice of homosexuality is a sin.

In Kenya, as in much of Africa, homosexual acts are criminal.

- AFP