Sydney’s six Anglican bishops issued a scathing denunciation on Monday of the appointment of gay priests to senior church positions in Britain and the US and told worshippers who supported such moves they were no longer welcome in their diocese.
”It is sadly inevitable that these recent challenges have severely damaged the fellowship of the Communion,” wrote the six bishops, led by Sydney Archbishop Peter Jensen.
The statement was issued in response to the appointments of British gay activist Jeffrey John as a bishop in Oxford, and of Gene Robinson, a clergyman who left his wife to live in a homosexual relationship, as a bishop in the US state of New Hampshire.
The bishops also targeted the blessing of same-sex marriages in a diocese of Canada.
The Sydney bishops said the developments ”have created a tragic disruption of fellowship and led to a watershed in relationships within the Communion”.
”Reversal of our Biblical and historical stance on sexual immorality is too drastic to pass without comment and action,” they said.
The clergy went on to say that Anglicans who agreed with the controversial policy on sexuality were not wanted in their churches.
”For our part, we cannot welcome into our diocese those who have abandoned the teaching of Scripture in such a flagrant manner,” they said.
One of the six bishops, Robert Forsyth, said church leaders in Britain and the United States appeared to be simply responding to public and social pressures rather than pursuing the requirements of their faith.
”We in Australia are … very concerned that the church should keep a rudder and not simply let the world around it buffet it along in certain directions,” he said.
”It is not a question of moving [with the times] or not. It is a question of being faithful to Christ,” he said.
”You want to be relevant in your style, in your content, but a church that merely says, ‘Me too’ back to the world has failed the world, in my judgement.” – Sapa-AFP