KIGALI, Rwanda (LifeSiteNews) – The Anglican Church of Rwanda has expressed disappointment in the Church of England’s vote in favor of clergy blessing same-sex unions.
Speaking last Friday, February 10, during the Global Anglican Future Conference in Kigali, the Anglican Primate of Rwanda, Archbishop Dr. Laurent Mbanda, said that the Church of England’s Synod decision, passed last week, was the final “nail in the coffin” of the relationship between the two branches.
“The Anglican Church of Rwanda is deeply saddened by the decision of the Church of England to bless same-sex unions. Our stand had already brought an impaired relationship with the Church of England, whose current move drives the last nail into the coffin,” he said.
Speaking to hundreds of participants at the conference, including other bishops, Mbanda stressed that the Anglican Church of Rwanda is a full member of both GAFCON (Global Anglican Future Conference) and the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA), two bodies that have threatened to break away from the Anglican Communion over the crisis engulfing the church. On October 4, 2019, the Anglican Church of Rwanda ‘decolonialized’ its identity by changing its name from “Province de l’Eglise Anglicane au Rwanda” to “Eglise Anglicane du Rwanda.” This was an assertion that it was no longer a colonial subject of the Church of England.
The Constitution of Rwanda is sound on the protection of the dignity of the family and states that a “civil monogamous marriage between a man and a woman is the only recognised marital union.” The Anglican Church in Rwanda is deeply rooted in conserving African values and advancing positive Christian doctrines that protect the dignity of the family as enshrined in the constitution. Archbishop Mbanda has warned his congregants and the state that the West doesn’t want this to happen. Instead, it is fighting hard to manipulate Africa.
In an debate lasting over eight hours last Thursday, the General Synod of Church of England voted in favour of its bishops’ proposal that same-sex relationships be liturgically blessed.
The Synod also passed a resolve that the Church of England will apologize for the harm it says it has caused to homosexuals and thus also welcomed a forthcoming review of a ban on clergy contracting same-sex civil “marriages” and the current rule of celibacy for clergy in same-sex relationships. These measures are against the wishes of the many servants of God in Africa and the values they vowed to defend.
READ: Anglican bishop in Kenya rejects Church of England’s decision to bless same-sex unions
The radical LGBT agenda infiltrating the Catholic Church is persecuting another brave priest, who now desperately needs your help to speak on his behalf.
Fr. Joachim Wernersbach has been SUSPENDED by his abbot of the Benedictine Tholey Abbey for preaching against gender ideology and the heterodox Synodal Way — pushed by Pope Francis and the German Synod of Bishops.
Fr. Wernersbach is also suspended from performing pastoral activists in the surrounding parish, and is being subject to “an ecclesiastical investigation.”
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Pro-life and pro-family priests around the world are being silenced and cancelled, while pro-LGBT activists get hand-written letters from the Pope, like Fr. James Martin.
Fr. Wernersbach simply reiterated Catholic teaching in his Christmas homily: “You hear about gender and transgender, transhumanism and reproductive health, wokeness and LGBTQ, diversity and identity. Of multiple genders and gender reassignment, plus this devastating new understanding of revelation from the Synodal Way,” he said.
“My dear friends, even the terms are absolutely disturbing. They all have one thing in common: they lack beauty, they lack coherence, and they lack naturalness. They are not aligned, not in harmony with the inconceivably beautiful Divine Order.”
For this denunciation of anti-Catholic trends, Fr. Wernersbach has been suspended by his own abbot. The entire homily has also been removed from YouTube.
The systematic persecution of pro-life and pro-family priests must end now.
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MORE INFORMATION:
German priest punished by superiors for preaching against gender ideology, Synodal Way
Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Stephen Cottrell, the Archbishop of York, said they hoped the decision marked a “new beginning” for the Church of England, remarking in a joint statement, “It has been a long road to get us to this point.”
The head of GAFCON Primates, Dr. Foley Beach, the Anglican Archbishop of North America, said in a separate statement that the meeting in Kigali will determine the way forward.
“The decision taken today by the General Synod of the Church of England and the explanations given are clear indications that the Church of England is moving a step at a time to fully accept the practice of homosexuality as part of the life and practice of the English Church,” he wrote.
“To some of us who have been hoping that the Church would remain with her distinctive identity [distinct] from those who don’t believe the teaching of Scripture, this hope is diminishing,” he continued.
“This decision by the Church of England raises questions regarding the relationship of Anglican Provinces around the world with the Church of England and the continued role of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Gafcon provinces and other Global South provinces are already in impaired Communion with The Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church of Canada, the Episcopal Church of Brazil, The Scottish Episcopal Church, The Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, and the Church in Wales. We shall now have to make a decision about the Church of England.”
READ: Anglican Church of Uganda blasts Church of England for decision to ‘bless’ same-sex unions
Beach had particularly harsh words for the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is the head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, saying that he has “abrogated his fiduciary responsibility and violated his consecration vows to ‘banish and drive away from the Church all erroneous and strange doctrine contrary to God’s Word’ with his advocating this change in the Church of England.” Beach called for Welby to give up his position as “first among equals” in the Anglican communion and rejected the role of the British government in Anglican affairs.
“It is now time for the Primates of the Anglican Communion to choose for themselves their ‘first among equals’ rather than having a secular government of only one nation appoint our leader,” he wrote. “We are no longer colonies of Great Britain.”
Rwanda’s Archbishop Mbanda joins the other Anglican African archbishops, including from Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, who recently denounced the divisive Chruch of England decision to bless same-sex unions.