NIGERIA: ANGLICAN CHURCH TO FORM PARISHES IN U.S.

From The Vanguard, a Nigerian newspaper

By SAM EYOBOKA

Sunday, May 16, 2004

The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) may have begun subtle moves to establish churches in the United States to serve African and Caribbean communities opposed to last year's consecration of V. Gene Robinson, a confessed homosexual, as the bishop of New Hampshire.

Nigeria, leading the Conference of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA), represents about 40 million Anglicans, as well as those in Asia and Southern America. The conference had vehemently opposed the consecration, an act that threatened the fabric of the otherwise united communion.

Speaking in his presidential charge at the second session of the second Synod on Thursday, the Bishop of Lagos West Diocese, Rt. Reverend Peter Awelawa Adebiyi, said a Nigerian contingent to the U.S. was amazed at the number of Nigerians and Africans in Indianapolis who were not ready to worship in the Episcopal Church of the United States of America (ECUSA) because of the issue of homosexuality. The theme of this year's Synod is "The Church in the Society."

According to the bishop, who first announced the intention of the Nigerian church to establish churches in the U.S. to spiritually nurture Nigerian residents there instead of leaving them without a church, "We encouraged Venerable Seye Fagbamiye to bring Nigerians and other nationalities that are interested together. Ven. Fagbamiye is a Nigerian Anglican priest studying at Indianapolis in the state of Indiana, USA, and he has successfully brought together a congregation known as Chapel of Resurrection in the town."

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