Archbishop of Canterbury apologises for ‘hurt and pain’ caused to gay community

Jan 15, 2016 by Jill

By Ruth Gledhill, Christian Today:

The Archbishop of Canterbury today announced the next Lambeth Conference will be in 2020, indicating the success of this week’s gathering of Anglican Primates in maintaining the unity of the Anglican Communion.

Archbishop Justin Welby had delayed calling a Lambeth Conference conference on the due date of 2018 because of the divisions over homosexuality which this week’s meeting of 39 Primates from 38 provinces was called to address. Normally, the conferences take place every 10 years.

In response to a question from Christian Today, Archbishop Welby said he had great hopes for the conference. “I hope we get the money to do it. I hope that it’s a conference which affirms and does not hurt people and that glorifies God in doing that. I want it to be a conference where people celebrate the love and joy of Jesus Christ with passion.”

Archbishop Welby denied that “sanctions” had been issued against The Episcopal Church, which has incurred the wrath of the Global South and other conservative primates for consecrating gay bishops and approving gay marriage. The Anglican church of Canada is also moving forwards to possibly approving same-sex marriage later this year.

Instead, the Archbishop said, The Episcopal Church was faced with the “consequences” of its actions of making a unilateral decision to change marriage doctrine in its province.

Read here