Gay report 'food for thought'

2004-10-18 19:45

Johannesburg - The Archbishop of Cape Town, Njongonkulu Ndungane, said on Monday that an Anglican church commission's report calling for a halt to the public blessing of same-sex relationships offered a "win-win" opportunity.

The Windsor Report, issued in London on Monday, also called for no more actively gay bishops and criticised bishops who had acted in areas outside their jurisdiction.

Ndungane, who is on sabbatical at Virginia Theological Seminary in the United States, said the report "provides the Anglican Communion with space for reflection, dialogue and reconciliation".

He described the report as "a rich gift of a deep theological and spiritual reflection on the nature of the common life of God's people".

It offers "a 'win-win' opportunity" which must be "grasped with both hands", he said.

Loving pastoral care of all

The report, drawn up by the Lambeth Commission, "does not discuss the detailed issues of homosexuality - and neither shall I", he said.

"As was its mandate, it invites us to engage with wider issues of shared fellowship and how we handle disagreements and divisions within the Anglican Communion."

On the issue of homosexuality, Ndungane said: "... the Church of the Province of Southern Africa is committed to the loving pastoral care of all its members, including those who experience themselves as having a homosexual orientation.

"We continue to require all unmarried clergy of whatever sexual orientation to be celibate, and do not bless same-sex relationships."

The Lambeth Commission was given the task of resolving the deep split in Anglican national churches after the election of Gene Robinson, who is openly gay, as a bishop in the US.

The report recommended that the US church which ordained Robinson should apologise.

- SAPA