Anglican Church of Nigeria Installs Bishop From America
By Gilbert da Costa Abuja
21 August 2006

Reverend Martyn Minns, a conservative Episcopal rector from the U.S. state of Virginia has been consecrated the first bishop of a new group for conservative Anglicans established by the Church of Nigeria. The hugely celebrated event could complicate the already simmering tensions in the Episcopal Church.

The consecration service at the newly constructed National Christian Center in the Nigerian capital was an elaborate affair, lasting more than four hours.

Priests in white and red robes congregated around the pulpit, as the head of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, administered oaths to four new bishops, including 63-year-old Martyn Minns of the United States.

Bishop Minns' consecration could change the landscape of the worldwide Anglican community, as he takes charge of a new group, known as the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, established by the Church of Nigeria to provide a haven for Episcopalians alienated by the U.S. Episcopal Church. the rest