US congregations defect to Africa as schism over gay priests widens
Rob Crilly in Nairobi
August 30, 2007

When the Rev Bill Murdoch walks down the aisle of All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi to become an Anglican bishop today he will be turning his back on an American Church that he believes has lost its way.

Mr Murdoch is the latest rebel conservative priest from the US to defect to an African Church over the issue of homosexuality. But he says he will not be turning his back on his younger brother, Brian, who is a gay priest in New England. “I love my brother and care deeply for him, and obviously that’s been a part of my family’s struggle for 20 years,” he said. “So this has been a deep struggle, not a casual decision at all.”

The Anglican Communion of 77 million has been beset by splits since the American Episcopal Church consecrated Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003. Since then an alliance of conservative archbishops, largely from the developing world, has accused the Episcopal Church of ignoring Biblical teaching. Liberals, who favour a looser interpretation of Scripture, in turn accuse conservatives of taking the Communion of 38 Churches to the brink of schism. the rest