Anglican archbishops end meeting on a quiet note

(RNS) Anglican archbishops concluded their six-day summit in Ireland on
Sunday (Jan. 30) by issuing statements on a host of international
issues, including violence against women in Africa, political chaos in
Egypt, and the murder of a gay rights activist in Uganda.


Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori was among the
two dozen senior bishops, or primates, gathered in Dublin who also
sought to clarify their roles in governing the increasingly fractious
Anglican Communion.


Seven archbishops, mostly from Africa, boycotted the meeting to
protest the Episcopal Church's liberal stance on gay issues,
particularly its consecration of openly gay and lesbian bishops. Seven
additional primates did not attend the Dublin meeting for unrelated
reasons.


Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the
global Anglican fellowship, said the primates were "sometimes painfully
aware of those not with us." "But no meeting can allow itself to be
shaped wholly by the people who are not there," he said.


Episcopalians in the U.S. hailed Williams' condemnation of the Jan.
26 murder of gay Ugandan activist David Kato. Police in Uganda have
called the murder a botched robbery, though a local newspaper had called
for Kato and other gay Ugandans to be killed.


"This murder illustrates the fact that words have results," Williams
said.


Ugandan Archbishop Henry Orombi, who has been one of the most vocal
critics of the Episcopal Church, was one of the seven archbishops who
boycotted the Dublin meeting.