NIGERIA: PRIMATE BLASTS NEW ANGLICAN COMMUNION APPOINTMENT — WORLD EXCLUSIVE

By David W. Virtue

ABUJA, NIGERIA — 7/30/2004

The Primate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria has written a scathing letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury blasting the appointment of the new general secretary for the Anglican Consultative Council, Irish-born Canon Kenneth Kearon.

In a stiffly worded letter to Dr. Rowan Williams and all the Primates and Moderators of the Anglican Communion, The Most Revd. Peter Akinola wrote saying he was "disappointed at the action that fails to take cognizance of the feelings and yearnings of those of us in the global south."

"You will recall that when the Primates met in a private session at the Primates' Meeting, Gramado, Brazil, I expressed the view of many of us with regards to how the ACC secretariat was staffed."

The Primates have been deeply suspicious of outgoing general secretary Canon John Peterson for his liberal views. The Global South Primates have wanted an orthodox leader of the Anglican Communion Office that reflected more their views.

In his letter to Williams, Akinola said that he asked the Archbishop of Canterbury why the staff at the new global headquarters so poorly represented the wider Anglican Communion of the South. "Anytime you see any non-Western face at the Secretariat, he is either an intern or an office errand boy or a copy typist! It is vital that we have staff, at the most senior as well as junior levels, which represent the viewpoint of the Global South of the church," he wrote.

"We see in this latest appointment that nothing has changed and that what we thought and believe to be a world-wide Communion is actually now being portrayed to be no more than 'western section communion.'"

The Nigerian Primate said he had nothing against the person of the man so appointed. "My grouse is with the system that continues to fail to reckon with the fact that this Church and its structure is no longer the exclusive preserve of any section of the western world. You cannot continue to marginalize and treat as irrelevant a very large section of the Anglican Communion and continue to expect that section for which you have no regard to be happy in the fellowship."

Virtuosity has learned that the new ACC general secretary's views on homosexuality more closely parallel those of outgoing Canon John Peterson than those of the Global South bishops and Primates.

In an interview with the BBC in Northern Ireland, Canon Kearon refused to commit himself when pressed for his views on homosexuality. "They wanted me to commit myself on the issue of sexuality, but I refused," he said. "People thought there were simple yes-and-no answers about it, but the deeper you get into it, the more complex the issues are. It really is a painful issue on all sides of the debate."

He did not publicly repudiate homosexual behavior, a failure that could rebound on both him and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Dr. Williams has said publicly that he is delighted with the appointment: "Canon Kearon will bring to this post a superb knowledge of the worldwide church and invaluable experience, especially in the field of church and community relationships and in mediation and conflict resolution."