ARCHBISHOP of Kenya has pulled the plug on the Bishop of Chelmsford’s visit to the country after local newspapers revealed his links to a lesbian and gay campaigning group. The two-week visit was disrupted at its halfway point as Bishop Gladwin with his wife and a group of 20 curates toured the remote Diocese of Embu. Reports in a Kenyan newspaper linked Bishop Gladwin to ‘Changing Attitude’ – a group committed to changing the teaching of the Anglican Church to include practising homosexuals.
At first Bishop Gladwin denied links to a ‘gay and lesbian club’ and newspaper reports described the ‘seething’ reaction of one of his staff, Canon Roger Matthews, to a cathedral congregation. Waving a copy of a local newspaper he reportedly said, “If the story were true, we would not have dared to step in any church in this country,” said Matthews. Bishop Gladwin then confirmed 29 people at the cathedral service. But a statement from the Archbishop of Kenya’s office said that after checking the facts, the Church of Kenya was “unable to continue with advancing the lined-up activities with the Diocese of Chelmsford.”
The Diocese of Chelmsford said this week that the programme of activities for the 20 curates accompanying Bishop Gladwin was continuing and that hospitality had not been withdrawn. But to the embarrassment of both Bishop Gladwin and his hosts, his own role in the visit was at an end. The Kenyan Church has already refused aid from the Episcopal Church of the USA over the crisis in the Anglican Communion on homosexuality.
Archbishop Nzimbi indicated to The Church of England Newspaper that the revelations about Bishop Gladwin’s association with Changing Attitude had come as a surprise. “Our stand as the Anglican Church of Kenya is still the same as we have said before. We are still holding the resolution 1.10 [of the 1998 Lambeth Conference] that marriage is between a man and a woman for life. At this point I would like to say that we are standing with people in the UK who believe in the word of God. I want to encourage them to be strong and of good courage.”
Bishop John Gladwin said: “I hope we can get over this misunderstanding and make clear our determination to carry forward the Lambeth Resolutions, and to learn how God is at work in all his people in England and in Kenya.” He said he was seeking an urgent meeting with Archbishop Nzimbi to clear the matter up.
This is the second embarrassment within one year for Bishop Gladwin over his pro-gay sympathies. Only last May a visit to the Diocese of Trinidad and Tobago was cancelled after he co-signed a letter to The Times, stating that he was in full communion with the Episcopal Church of the USA, after the Province of West Indies had earlier declared itself to be in broken communion with the US Church.
Chelmsford Diocese’s Anglican Mainstream group denied any role in alerting the Kenyan press to Bishop Gladwin’s patronage of Changing Attitude but in a statement criticised his stance. “It is clear that this is a matter of grave concern both here and abroad. We are particularly distressed at the controversy and embarrassment that has occurred during the visit to our link dioceses in Kenya of a group led by the Bishop.”
Other Patrons of Changing Attitude include Bishop Gene Robinson and English bishops of Wolverhampton, St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, Ripon and Leeds, Lincoln and Worcester.
–The Church of Enlgand Newspaper