wfn.org | Lambeth bishops to hear from gay and lesbian Christians

[Theo Coggin +2711-648-5461]

e-mail: coggin@sn.apc.org

Gay and lesbian Christians will have the opportunity to share their
experiences of the Church’s attitude and ministry towards them at a
conference of Anglican bishops from around the world, to be held in
England later this year.

Announcing this at a media conference today (Sunday 15 February 1998),
the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, the Most Revd
Njongonkulu Ndungane, said that the issue of human sexuality was one of
several on the agenda for this year’s Lambeth Conference, a worldwide
gathering of Anglican bishops held every ten years.

Archbishop Ndungane returned today from a visit to London, where he met
the Archbishop of Canterbury to discuss issues relating to section one
of the Lambeth Conference, which he is to chair. The section, entitled
“Full humanity” will deal with some of the most pressing issues facing
Christians in the next decade, including the environment, human
sexuality, international debt and poverty, racism, medical rights and
human rights.

He noted that there are various divergent views in the Anglican
Communion on human sexuality, especially with regard to the question of
homosexuality, and that the Conference will approach the subject “in a
sensitive, caring and responsible manner”.

He added that there is a possibility that an international commission
will be established to study further the issues related to
homosexuality, and to report back to the different structures of the
Communion.

The human sexuality sub-section will be chaired by another South
African, the Rt Revd Duncan Buchanan, Bishop of Johannesburg.

While decisions taken at Lambeth are not statutorily binding on the
various Anglican Provinces participating, they will nevertheless carry a
moral force and give direction for the next decade. 

Archbishop Ndungane said that several theological principles will
undergird the work of section one at Lambeth. These are:

*	Justice, which seeks to create and preserve right relationships;
*	Love, as  the greatest human challenge;
*	Respect for an appreciation of the dignity, integrity and sacredness
of the human person (as protected by human rights); and
*	Freedom in Christ as the promise of release from captivity which
Christians are called to proclaim and protect.

‘These matters are being communicated today to all bishops in the
world-wide Anglican Communion.  This section of the Lambeth 1998
Conference promises to provide considerable insight and direction as to
the way in which the Anglican Church throughout the world will minister,
grow and develop as our present century draws to a close, and in the
fledgling years of the 21st  century,’ he said.

Visit the homepage of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa at
http://www.cpsa.org.za/