13 October 2015 A.D. Justin Welby takes detour to Kenya from London's Heathrow enroute to Iceland (dated 13 Oct 2013)
13 October 2015
A.D. Justin
Welby takes detour to Kenya from London's Heathrow enroute to Iceland (dated 13 Oct 2013)
Staff. “Archbishop of Canterbury makes Kenya detour on way to
Iceland.” BBC. 20 Oct 2013. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-24600619. Accessed 13 Oct 2015.
Archbishop of Canterbury makes Kenya
detour on way to Iceland
The Archbishop was due to fly to Iceland - via Heathrow - on Sunday night
The Archbishop of Canterbury has made a detour of more than 8,000 miles to
visit Kenya - on his way to Iceland.
Archbishop Justin
Welby, who arrived on Saturday night, gave sermons at All Saints Cathedral on
Sunday morning.
He made the
"last-minute" 24-hour trip to offer condolences after the Westgate
centre attack, Lambeth Palace said.
He is also meeting
conservative Church leaders who are in Nairobi for this week's conference of
the traditionalist Anglican group, Gafcon.
Archbishop Welby
was due to fly to Iceland - via London's Heathrow Airport - on Sunday night.
In Iceland, he will
attend a primates' meeting of the Porvoo Communion, formed of churches mainly
in northern Europe.
'Offer support'
At least 67 people
died when suspected al-Shabab militants stormed the Westgate shopping centre,
in Nairobi, on 21 September.
The attack sparked
a four-day siege in which large parts of the shopping centre were destroyed.
"The aim of
the visit is to offer condolences and encouragement to the people of Kenya and
those affected by the Westgate attack and to offer support to bishops in
Kenya", a spokeswoman for Lambeth Palace said.
The Archbishop of
Canterbury stayed overnight at the home of the Archbishop of Kenya Eliud
Wabukala - who is also the current chairman of Gafcon - the Global Anglican
Future Conference.
Archbishop Welby
delivered sermons at 09:30 and 11:00 before having lunch with the Archbishop of
Kenya and five Kenyan bishops.
Gafcon 2013 - the
second such conference - will run from Monday to Saturday.
The original
conference - held in Jerusalem in June 2008 - was organised in response to the
appointment of actively gay men and women as bishops, especially in the US.
'False gospel'
Through the Gafcon movement,
conservative Anglican provinces - mostly in parts of Africa but some in South
and North America, Asia and the Middle East - have questioned the authority of
the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Gafcon has condemned
those who preach a "false gospel" which "claims God's blessing
for same-sex unions over against the biblical teaching on holy matrimony".
I think he has the experience to learn and also to be
able to connect The Archbishop of Kenya on the Archbishop of Canterbury
Lambeth Palace said
the Archbishop of Canterbury was unable to accept an invitation to attend
Gafcon 2013 because of his longstanding trip to Iceland and because he would be
baptising Prince George at St James's Palace on Wednesday.
Gafcon leaders have
said the archbishop's predecessor, Dr Rowan Williams, was not forthright enough
in condemning the appointment of gay bishops.
The Archbishop of
Kenya told BBC Radio 4's Sunday programme that Archbishop Welby was "new
to us and to the communion".
"I think he is
interested in connecting with the activities of the communion and the Gafcon
movement is part of those very significant activities that he will not
miss," he added.
"I think it's
significant that he has recognised that fact," he added.
"We hope
things may not work the way they worked last time.
"He has been
to various parts in in Africa. He has been to Kenya before.
"I think he
has the experience to learn and also to be able to connect."
In March,
Archbishop Welby acknowledged that some gay couples have loving, stable and
monogamous relationships of "stunning" quality.
He told BBC News he
had "particular friends where I recognise that and am deeply challenged by
it".
But he said he
still supported the Church of England's formal opposition to active
homosexuality.
Correction 21 Oct
2013: This story has been amended to clarify that Gafcon remains within the
Anglican Communion.
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