Uganda to boycott ACC meeting in Lusaka

24 Feb 2016
George Conger

The Church of Uganda will boycott the April meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in Lusaka. In a letter dated 23 Feb 2016 the Archbishop of Uganda, the Most Rev. Stanley said comments made by ACC chairman Dr. James Tengatenga -- first reported by Anglican Ink -- that the Americans could not be kept away from the meeting, and statements by Episcopal Church leaders that they would pay no heed to the primates’ call that their church withdraw from pan-Anglican bodies for three years inevitably led to this outcome

Distrust over the efficacy of American promises of good behavior were a long standing problem in the Anglican Communion, Archbishop Ntagali said. He cited the 2003 incident where Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold promised not to consecrate Gene Robinson, an undertaking given at the emergency primates meeting held at Lambeth Palace, and his decision shortly thereafter to serve as Robinson’s chief consecrator.

The primates “felt so betrayed. We wondered how the TEC Presiding Bishop could agree that their consecration should not proceed – how he could agree that if he presided at that consecration that it would tear the fabric of the Anglican Communion at its deepest level – and then immediately turn around and announce that he would do it anyway. It was a double betrayal – betraying the clear message of the Bible and betraying an agreement the Primates had made unanimously... the rest