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Anglican archbishop calls for understanding of homosexuals
2003-010-5
Tuesday, January 21, 2003
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[Episcopal News Service]
Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, head of the Anglican church in Southern Africa, has asked its members to reflect upon their attitudes towards homosexuality.
In an eight-page discussion document on human sexuality sent out to members of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, Ndungane warned that the issue is threatening to divide their church.
Loraine Tulleken, spokesperson for Ndungane, said that the discussion document had been sent to bishops, clergy, parishes, theological colleges and Anglican organizations in South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia and St. Helena.
Ndungane's action stems from a resolution taken at the Anglican synod in Bloemfontein last October, when some participants argued that the church's openly gay clergy needed to be officially recognized. In South Africa the church also faced a potential clash with the constitution, which gives same-sex couples the right to marry.
According to Ndungane, more traditional elements in the church were unable to adjust to a growing acceptance of homosexuals as practicing Anglicans and believed that 'somehow the faith is at stake.'
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