The Southern Africa church has been critical of Anglican leaders elsewhere on the continent who support harsh, anti-LGBTQ laws.
Bishop Allan Kannemeyer, who heads the Diocese of Pretoria, said these laws are “violations of human rights” and openly supported by some Anglican bishops.
It’s unclear what lies ahead. The GSFA leaders, in their October statement, say if Welby does not take the step up, there may be an opening for conservative bishops to increase their influence.
That topic will likely be paramount at the April meeting in Rwanda, to which GSFA bishops have been invited. It will be hosted by the Global Anglican Future Conference – known as Gafcon – which includes the archbishops of Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda, as well as leaders of conservative Anglican entities that have already split off, like the Anglican Church in North America.
No one from the Anglican Communion’s head office in London is expected to attend.
By the April meeting, Gafcon and GFSA members might be further angered by the Church of England’s actions – its General Synod will gather in February to consider same-sex marriage proposals, including a vote allowing priests to conduct such weddings for the first time.
A significant development came in November, when Steven Croft, the bishop of Oxford, became the church’s first diocesan bishop to speak in favor of same-sex marriage. He published an essay calling for the ban to end and five other bishops publicly backed him.
At stake, he said, was the Church of England’s claim to serve the whole of society. Its anti-LGBTQ stance “is leading to a radical dislocation between the Church of England and the culture and society we are attempting to serve,” he said.
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Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria; Crary from New York and Pepinster from London. Associated Press writers Rodney Muhumuza in Kampala, Uganda, and Mogomotsi Magome in Johannesburg, South Africa, contributed.
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This article originally appeared on APNews.com.
