Church of the Word
CHURCH OF UGANDA EXTENDS OVERSIGHT

Uganda extends reach into USA

Number: 5802     Date: Jan 13

By George Conger

THE CHURCH of Uganda has extended its oversight of Anglican parishes in America, drawing strong criticism for its actions, which are said to be in contravention of the recommendations of the Windsor Report. A bitter war of words has broken out between the Ugandan Primate, Archbishop Henry Orombi, and the Bishop of Virginia, the Rt Rev Peter Lee, over the interference of the African Church in American affairs. Archbishop Orombi attacked the Bishop for seeking to have one of his clergy deposed.

In November 2005, the Rev J Phillip Ashey, vicar of South Riding outside Washington, met with Bishop Lee, telling him that he and the bulk of the congregation were joining the Church of Uganda. Mr Ashey gave the bishop his resignation as an employee of the diocese, but refused Bishop Lee’s request that he sign a document renouncing his priestly orders. At the end of last month, the Bishop responded by deposing Mr Ashey from the ministry, on the grounds that his resignation of employment as a diocesan missioner to transfer to the Church of Uganda could be construed as a renunciation of his orders. Archbishop Henry Orombi wrote to Bishop Lee last week saying that he objected to his construal of “[the] Rev Ashey’s decision to resign as a missioner of the Diocese of Virginia as a renunciation of his holy orders.”

He continued: “Even those of us for whom English is a second language understand his plain English to mean that he has resigned from the staff of the Diocese of Virginia, but not from his priestly orders. “This kind of re-inventing of the plain meaning of a text is the same problem we are facing today throughout the Anglican Communion with regard to bishops and leaders in ECUSA reinventing the plain meaning of scripture.” Bishop Lee chided Archbishop Orombi, saying he was disappointed the Ugandan leader had “chosen to exercise Episcopal acts outside the jurisdiction of your Province”. Under the recommendations of the Windsor Report, primates were asked to respect provincial boundaries and refrain from interfering in the affairs of other bishops and primates. More conservative churches look set to split from ECUSA over its decision to consecrate the Anglican Communion’s first openly gay bishop.

At least eight churches in Florida look set to follow the example of six others in the diocese who formally ended their relationship with the diocese last Sunday. They would join six other churches that already have left the Florida diocese. The Rev Sam Pascoe, rector at Grace Church in Orange Park, one of the churches to have broken ties, warned that more parishes would be “disassociating” with the diocese and the denomination.

This article comes from The Church of England Newspaper online
http://www.churchnewspaper.com/

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