Sunday, April 19, 2009

Church of England bishop accused of trying to set up rival church


The Very Rev Colin Slee, the liberal Dean of Southwark has publicly attacked the Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, and said that he was one of three bishops whose position was now "open to some debate".

The Dean's broadside, delivered in the introduction to the annual report for Southwark Cathedral, will infuriate evangelical supporters of the Bishop, 59, and further widen the gulf between the traditional and liberal wings of the church.

The report was distributed to worshippers who attended last week's Easter Sunday celebration at the Cathedral.

In the article, Mr Slee argues that the decision by the Bishop of Rochester, Lewes and Willesden to boycott last year's Lambeth Conference, a meeting of Anglican bishops from around the world which is held every ten years, raises serious questions about their future within the Communion.
He wrote: "One reason why peace broke out at the Lambeth Conference was that the Puritan fringe stayed away, they boycotted the Conference – and they included the Bishop of Rochester, Lewes and Willesden in the UK. It is my view that any bishop who engaged in the boycott has placed himself outside full communion and his status as a bishop of the Anglian Church must be open to some debate"

More here-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/5176218/Church-of-England-bishop-accused-of-trying-to-set-up-rival-church.html

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