Kenya's Anglican bishops opened a meeting on Tuesday to
reach a consensus on the consecration of homosexuals into their ranks.
The six-day meeting in Mombasa, on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast, comes ahead of
an emergency summit of the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) leadership in
October.
"We shall be deliberating on various serious policy and episcopal issues,
including that of the consecration of gay clergy in other branches of our
church," said Mombasa Bishop Julius Kalu.
Early this month, the approval of a gay priest, Gene Robinson, as the US
Episcopal Church's bishop of New Hampshire left the Anglican church in turmoil
worldwide.
ACK Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi, himself a staunch opponent of consecration of
gays as bishops, as well as homosexual marriages, said it was time ACK made
public its position.
"Our stand is very clear on the issue of homosexuality, and we are totally
opposed to any consecration now and in future," Nzimbi said.
"It is not in our interests to begin seeing things, very crucial things,
that concern our faith in a new way that we have not always seen them," he
said.
Two weeks ago the ACK said those who had openly supported same-sex marriages
had "excommunicated themselves" from the international Anglican
Communion, which has 70-million members in 164 countries, grouped in 38 church
provinces.