SA bishops hold 'gay summit'

2003-09-01 16:20

Cape Town - Anglican bishops from southern Africa are to meet in Johannesburg in two weeks to debate the tensions in the church worldwide over gay clergy.

The meeting, summoned by Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, comes ahead of the so-called "gay summit" of senior clergy called by the head of the church, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, for October.

Njongonkulu said on Monday that the Johannesburg meeting would draw up a statement that he would take to the October summit.

"We need your prayers on these issues. They are weighty matters," he told a meeting of clergy of the Cape Town diocese.

There has been disunity and even suggestions of a split in the church following this month's appointment of the openly gay Gene Robinson as a bishop in the United States.

Williams called the summit, to be held at his London residence Lambeth, in a bid to confront what he said were the "anxieties" triggered by Robinson's confirmation.

Ndungane heads the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, one of 38 Anglican "provinces" throughout the world.

The CPSA allows the ordination of gay clergy, but expects them to be celibate, as it says sex should take place only within the confines of marriage. It does not have any gay bishops.

- SAPA