Another African Anglican Church Appoints US Bishop

Uganda's Anglican Archbishop became the fourth African leader to appoint an American bishop to serve breakaway Anglicans in the United States.

Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi consecrated former Episcopalian John AM Guernsey on Saturday just days after Kenya's Anglican Church made the same move. The series of interventions by African Anglican Churches goes against the wishes of the US Episcopal Church - the US branch of Anglicanism - which called such interventions "injurious" to the Church and said they could lead to a permanent division in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The African Churches, however, say they are providing missional support to Anglicans in the US who believe the Episcopal Church has departed from orthodox Christianity.

Guernsey, former rector of All Saints Church in Dale City, Virginia, which voted last year to disaffiliate with the Episcopal Church, was appointed to provide oversight to 33 US parishes that will recognise the Church of Uganda's authority, according to Reuters.

Orombi had announced plans in June to appoint an American bishop as divisions deepened over the Episcopal Church's consecration of an openly gay bishop in 2003.

"We thought the crisis in the Anglican Church would be resolved by now. We expected the Episcopal Church to repent ... but they have prolonged the crisis," Orombi' spokeswoman Alison Barfoot told Reuters.

While such events have been called interventions by representatives of the Anglican Communion, the Rt Rev Martyn Minns - who was installed in May by Nigerian Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola to oversee US congregations under CANA (Convocation of Anglicans in North America) - commended the support African provinces were providing to conservative Anglicans in the United States.

"It's the Global South collectively saying 'We've got to do something' because of the crisis in the US Church," said Bishop Minns.

The Archbishop of Rwanda, the Most Rev Emmanuel Kolini, and the Archbishop of Southeast Asia, the Most Rev Moses Tay, set the precedent for establishing a missionary branch in the United States in 2000. They formed the Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMiA) which now claims about 120 congregations.

This month, Anglican bishops expect a response by the Episcopal Church to an ultimatum they issued, requesting that the US body pledge not to consecrate another openly gay bishop or bless same-sex couples. The deadline to respond is September 30.