The
Anglican Bishop of the Diocese of Evoh, Rivers State, Rt. Rev. Innocent Ordu
has said the Bishop of Kaduna Diocese, Rt. Rev. Josiah Idowu-Fearon did not
inform the leadership of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), before
accepting to serve as the Secretary-General of the Anglican Consultative
Council (ACC).
He said the Church of Nigeria has an impaired
relationship with the Anglican Church in the West and are not in support of
Idowu-Fearon’s acceptance to serve in the ACC, because of their conviction that
ACC is populated by those promoting homosexuality in the Church.
Ordu spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt at a
pre-synod press conference as part of arrangements for the 3rd session of the
2nd Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Evo, which will begin on July 29, 2015,
with the theme; “Recapturing the spirit of excellence and integrity in service:
The Daniel example”.
The Bishop said, “On the position of one of our Bishops, specifically, the Bishop of Kaduna, who have taken up appointment as Secretary-General of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), which is more like the umbrella coordinating body of the Anglican world, from the feelers we have from the national office, it is obvious that he did not seek the consent or the blessings or approval of the rest of the bishops in Nigeria, particularly, the Primate.
The Bishop said, “On the position of one of our Bishops, specifically, the Bishop of Kaduna, who have taken up appointment as Secretary-General of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), which is more like the umbrella coordinating body of the Anglican world, from the feelers we have from the national office, it is obvious that he did not seek the consent or the blessings or approval of the rest of the bishops in Nigeria, particularly, the Primate.
“Correspondence sent to us by the Primate, if
I will quote him rightly said, the Bishop of Kaduna, has of his volition, his
own free-will, accepted the appointment as the ACC Secretary-General. As much
as I know, the House of Bishops in Nigeria has not been called to discuss that;
we have not been called to make our own opinion known about it.
“The position of the Primate is that since a good number of those who are part of the ACC are in support of the gay rights movement and all that, a Nigerian Bishop, knowing the position of the National Church here, ought not to accept a position in that body, because doing so will mean that we have all keyed into whatever negative posture these other ones are holding. That is the exact picture of things now and I cannot say categorically that the Church is happy about it or in support of it, but definitely, the answer is no.
“The position of the Primate is that since a good number of those who are part of the ACC are in support of the gay rights movement and all that, a Nigerian Bishop, knowing the position of the National Church here, ought not to accept a position in that body, because doing so will mean that we have all keyed into whatever negative posture these other ones are holding. That is the exact picture of things now and I cannot say categorically that the Church is happy about it or in support of it, but definitely, the answer is no.
“The Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion
has what we locally here, back home in Nigeria, define as ‘an impaired
relationship’ with any other province, that is a National Church or part of the
Anglican world that supports or advocates or champions this evil that the
scriptures condemn, which now they said men are free to marry fellow men; women
are free to marry fellow women and all that.
“We are saying God abhors it; please, change your posture on this and come back to the original biblical position of God on these issues; and if you are not ready to do that, we too cannot be in communion with you. That is the position of the Church.”
“We are saying God abhors it; please, change your posture on this and come back to the original biblical position of God on these issues; and if you are not ready to do that, we too cannot be in communion with you. That is the position of the Church.”
Ordu stated that as a Church that is
biblically-based, the Church of Nigeria and its members, will not abandon their
culture as Africans and Nigerians in particular and uphold homosexuality, which
the scriptures are also against.
He said, “There is something about the Anglican Church; we are a
biblically-based Church; matters of the scriptures, matters of the faith, no
true Anglican compromises with them. So, a few years ago, we discovered that
some sections of the Church, particularly, in the Western world began to toil
with some sensitive aspects as regard the spirituality and doctrine of the
Church; and the Church of Nigeria, you know, took their position on those
issues, particularly the issue of homosexuality.
“Even apart from the stand-point of the
scripture, on the strength of culture, we are first and foremost Africans,
Nigerians and we come from different cultures, traditions.
There are certain
things that even our cultures abhor. Our firm position on those things is
strengthened much more by the position of the scripture that they are evil.
So, we cannot on one hand be preaching
against other evils of society, of the average community and we are upholding
another evil because of a distorted position or understanding of some persons.
The position of the Anglican Church, for instance, on this matter of
homosexuality, lesbianism and the rest of them is that it is against scripture
and any arm or part of the Church worldwide that advocates it, is breaching the
provisions and tenets of the scripture and we cannot be in any form of
relationship with such an arm of the body of Christ until proper positions are
taken or reversed by those who advocate such.”
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