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President of Integrity USA visits counterparts in Uganda
2002-161-6
6/25/2002
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[Episcopal News Service]
The Rev. Michael Hopkins, president of Integrity USA, spent two weeks in early June visiting his counterparts in Uganda. He reported on his return June 19 that Integrity Uganda has built a community center in a village near the capital city of Kampala. 'The center serves not only as the headquarters of Integrity but also as a place of worship for all and a center for ministry to the surrounding community,' he said in a June 21 statement.
Hopkins preached and concelebrated the Eucharist at the community with Bishop Christopher Senyonjo. 'The congregation was a mix of lesbian, gay, bisexual and heterosexual Ugandans, young and old,' said Hopkins. 'Together they are deliberately creating a community that welcomes all, unlike the overwhelming majority of institutional churches in Uganda, including the Anglican Church of Uganda.'
The church in Uganda has inhibited Senyonjo and threatened him with 'ecclesiastical trial and defrocking,' reported Hopkins. The bishop was severely criticized by his colleagues for his involvement in the creation of Integrity Uganda. Hopkins said that the Rev. Erich Kasirye, founder of Integrity Uganda, 'has also been prohibited from the exercise of his ministry. I was honored to be a guest of these two courageous men, both of them heterosexual persons who are committed to the equality of their homosexual and bisexual fellow Christians.'
'I was also pleased to meet my counterpart, Mr. Denis Iraguha, the new president of Integrity Uganda, and his partner, Mr. Henry Irankunda,' Hopkins said in his statement. 'Sharing our stories and our faith, in spite of the opposition of many Christians and the society at large, is an experience I will never forget. Both Henry and Denis have in the past been arrest for 'homosexual offenses' and imprisoned without right of visitors, subjected to repeating canings. These young men, both 22 years old, showed a profoundly tenacious faith.'
Hopkins said that he was 'saddened that this community must live cut off from the fellowship of the Church of Uganda.' He said that the Diocese of Namirembe, where both Senyonjo and Kasirye were active clergy until their suspensions, passed a resolution in May 2001 that effectively lunched 'a vigorous crusade against all forms of homosexuality.'
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