Cleric: Church gay debate is far reaching

NAIROBI, July 13 – A catholic cleric on Sunday termed the homosexuality debate dividing Anglican Bishops as a ‘matter affecting the whole of humanity’.

Father Dominic Wamugunda, who is also a Sociologist, said the Kenyan Bishops who have vowed to boycott the Lambeth Conference were justified in doing so.

Father Wamugunda noted that gay marriage was ‘a moral issue which signified decadence’ and upon which Christians needed to reflect on and seek God’s guidance.

“This is both a moral and social issue that everybody has to reflect upon and ask for God’s will on mankind,” he said.

Speaking after leading a mass at the Holy Family Basilica in Nairobi, the cleric told Capital News that the future of humanity depended on how well such moral issues were going to be handled.

“When we start talking on men marrying men, and women marrying women, where is the future of humanity?”

His remarks came even as the Lambeth Conference approaches on July 21 with divisions in the Anglican Church evidently remaining deep.

There have been sharply divergent views from a cross-section of religious leaders over the much debated issue of ordaining gay bishops, which has already been done in the world’s biggest protestant Church.

Last month, about 300 conservative Anglican clergymen and other delegates attended a parallel Anglican conference in Jerusalem, where the issue was extensively discussed.

The Lambeth Conference is called after every ten years in the name of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, who, according to reports, hopes it would provide space for the warring bishops to find common ground and save the biggest Protestant church grouping in the world from disintegration.

About 800 bishops from across the world are expected to vote on a final resolution over the controversial issue, when the conference runs from July 21 to August 2.

Clamour for resignation

On leadership, Father Wamugunda urged Kenyan leaders not to politicise the resignation of ministers who are alleged to have been involved in corruption, but endeavour to work together to ensure the country achieves development.

He said much as it was a positive step towards transparency and accountability, such clamour was susceptible to misuse.

“There are political overtones in some of those demands, the divide between one side and the other.”

He, in addition, discouraged the debate on the presidential succession, saying it was a waste of time that would otherwise have been utilised for constructive gain.

The Cleric meanwhile also expressed optimism that the various commissions appointed to probe the chaos and underlying reasons for the post election violence that claimed 1,500 lives, plus that on the controversial transfer of the Grand Regency Hotel, would deliver.

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