Thinking Anglicans

Akinola banned in Sheffield?

Updated Wednesday 13 December

According to the Church of England Newspaper, this is the case.

The report is reproduced in full on Global South Anglican and can be read at Archbishop of Nigeria “banned” from preaching in Sheffield – CEN.

And Anglican Mainstream has a further column by Andrew Carey An Apology is in Order.

Update Wednesday 13 December
The Sheffield Star reports: Bishop’s ‘snub’ claims rejected by Lucy Ashton

CLAIMS that the Bishop of Sheffield barred a visiting foreign Archbishop from preaching at a service in the city were today dismissed as “total rubbish”.

The report reads in part:

…The Reverend Rob Marshall said: “There are clear rules that if an Archbishop is visiting the province he must get the Archbishop of York’s permission to preach. Protocol has to be followed and it’s also courtesy.
“The Archbishop asked Bishop Jack’s permission but he couldn’t say yes or no because it wasn’t his decision to make.
“It’s total rubbish about Bishop Jack barring him, he simply told him to contact the Archbishop of York.”
If an Archbishop wants to preach in another province, it usually just takes a phone call.
Mr. Marshall added: “The Bishop was very relaxed and simply said he had to follow protocol and all they had to do was ring the Archbishop of York’s office.
“It’s total nonsense to say he barred him.”
Mr. Marshall said there should have been plenty of time to arrange for the Archbishop to preach.
“We had this conversation on the Thursday before the service was taking place on the Sunday but you never have just three days notice of a visit.
“Normally Archbishops’ visits are planned months, sometimes two years in advance, so all this could have been arranged in advance…”

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Lapinbizarre
Lapinbizarre
17 years ago

If the Bishop of Sheffield has blocked Archbishop Akinola from preaching in his diocese, then good for the Bishop of Sheffield. Let us hope that his colleagues follow his lead. The conservative take on the 1998 Lambeth resolutions on homosexuality shows collective amnesia on the conference’s condemnation of homophobia. Akinola’s involvement in ongoing Nigerian anti-gay legislation is utterly Lambeth “non-compliant” on this point. As to Mr. Carey, no divorced individual, even the son of a former Archbishop of Canterbury, is in a position to preach to others on matters of sexual morality.

stephen bates
stephen bates
17 years ago

I heard about this story earlier in the week but decided it was a bit too arcane for our readers. What I don’t quite understand is why Archbishop Akinola (or his minions) did not seek the Archbishop of York’s permission to preach directly for himself? If that’s what needs to be done as a matter of courtesy, isn’t it for the party requesting permission to initiate the process? Or is that beneath the quiet dignity of Abp. Akinola? After all, he could have rung Bishopthorpe himself. As Andrew notes, he had several days to do so. Or perhaps the Sheffield… Read more »

laurence
laurence
17 years ago

Andrew Carey loves to stir the shit, as does Akinola. Akinola could have ‘phoned Sentamu himself. How they love to picture themselves as wronged little virgins, in whose mouths — butter would not melt. Andrew we all know who you father was / is you know. I am very concerned about all these globe trotting Primates and bishops. Don’t they have work to do — proper work ? Don’t they have job descriptions ? Are they accountable to no-one ? Akinola ‘left with impression of not being welcome’. HOW does he think lgbt pople feel in his Province ? (Maybe… Read more »

Leonardo Ricardo
Leonardo Ricardo
17 years ago

I think it’s time to request our U.S. Department of State cancel ++Akinolas Visa as well as request our Presiding Bishop to ban him in our Province…we don’t usually welcome twisted thinking hate mongers accross our borders to terrorize and demoralize our LGBT citizens, their heterosexual families and children with his dangerous slanderous and possible hate crime generating irrational junktalk: “Homosexuality and lesbianism, like divorce, breed a society of single parents which gives rise to a generation of bastards. And in the context of much poverty and lack of education, this further produces an ill-bred generation of hooligans, portending much… Read more »

Simon Morden
Simon Morden
17 years ago

There is a story here – but I don’t think it’s the one that Andrew Carey’s found. Questions I’d like answered: 1. Did ++Akinola have any other business in the UK besides this hospital appointment? Africa has some very good hospitals – ++Akinola must be suffering from a rare, serious, difficult-to-treat condition to warrant the cost of flying from Nigeria to Britain for a single appointment. 2. Did ++Sentamu at any point know that ++Akinola was in his province and wanted to preach? Was this unilateral action by Sheffield, or was York using Sheffield to keep ++Akinola at arms’ length?… Read more »

Cynthia
Cynthia
17 years ago

“And it would be even better to know why he had to go as far as Sheffield to get suitable treatment for his condition.” Isn’t it obvious? Needs to sharpen his knives prior to trying to carve up parts of TEC for himself and his Minnions [sorry could never resist a bad pun]. More seriously, how many anti-malaria crib nets, how many doses of anti-AIDS drugs, how many anti-polio inoculations could one have bought for what it costs him to galivant around the world, sowing discord? Perhaps he should read Dante to see what happens to such – it also… Read more »

Raspberry Rabbit
Raspberry Rabbit
17 years ago

Right – this is all we need: a firebrand foreign cleric who is on record for stating that homosexual behaviour is unheard of even in the animal world and who has put his Imprimatur on criminal legislation aimed at homosexuals in his country. Let’s put ‘Anglican’ and ‘Hate speech’ in the same headline. Much is made of the fact that the openness of western Churches towards gay people has made Christians in largely muslim regions of the world vulnerable. What about a man like Akinola feeding British Anglicans to the Guardian and the Independent? Does that count? Should we give… Read more »

Göran Koch-Swahne
17 years ago

Surely the Church of England Newspaper (the real one, they say) must k n o w what the proper protocol looks like? Shouldn’t all this have been a matter for the Archbishop personally or his Office. And what on earth has a London chaplain to do with a visit to Sheffield? The Hon. Andrew Carey wrote: “After a day of waiting for phone calls to be returned and trawling through the worldwide web to try and find a written-down explanation of the protocols governing visiting bishops and primates (which doesn’t incidentally seem to exist anywhere and it is not addressed… Read more »

Andrew Carey
Andrew Carey
17 years ago

Stephen Bates wrote: “I heard about this story earlier in the week but decided it was a bit too arcane for our readers. What I don’t quite understand is why Archbishop Akinola (or his minions) did not seek the Archbishop of York’s permission to preach directly for himself?” I can agree with you about it being arcane because Sheffield had plausible deniability about banning ++Akinola. I felt it was a story in the current climate because ++Akinola left the country believing he had been snubbed and banned. As to your question, neither ++Akinola nor his chaplain believed that for a… Read more »

Andrew Carey
Andrew Carey
17 years ago

Simon wrote: “There is a story here – but I don’t think it’s the one that Andrew Carey’s found. Questions I’d like answered:” Thankyou for your opinion. 1. I’ve already answered in my reply to Stephen Bates. 2. ++Sentamu doesn’t come into it at all (and I phoned his office to check this point). 3. I’ve already explained ++Akinola didn’t believe he needed to seek the Archbishop’s permission for a preaching engagement of this kind. In any case it was the responsibility of the church to seek permission of the Bishop and Archbishop if neccessary. 4. Irrelevant in my view.… Read more »

Cheryl Clough
17 years ago

Carey’s article is a bit sensationalist. I’ve never called Akinola the devil incarnate or even an angel for that matter, either. I wouldn’t flatter him by saying that he is more than human. I don’t know if any other liberals have indavertently flattered him, but I certainly haven’t seen the evidence.

Doug Chaplin
17 years ago

The words “sauce”, “goose” and “gander” spring irresistably to mind.

George Conger
George Conger
17 years ago

Laurence before you bludgeon Andrew Carey any further, I suggest you re-read the article in question. The story states the Bishop of Sheffield was asked for permission, this permission was not given. The Bishop of Sheffield’s spokesman said the Primate should have asked the Archbishop of York. The Nigerian chaplain said this explanation from Sheffield was not given to them. E.g., its “ridiculous, that is just not true.” Asking John Sentamu was not one of the original options, one can deduce this from the story. In hindsight asking York would have been the best move. Unfortunately there is no single… Read more »

Martin Reynolds
Martin Reynolds
17 years ago

Andrew must do better than this.

He has the ability to be as investigative as to Akinola’s true intentions here as he has in making his enquiries from press officers and the like.

This story has more than a scent of a piece of theatre it stinks of it.

Dig a bit more Andrew, but in another place ….. who knows you may have a good story.

Akinola is hardly Andrew’s flavour of the month either – judging by what he has wisely written about the man and his antics.

Göran Koch-Swahne
17 years ago

“In some Provinces you need the Primate’s permission, in others you don’t—the US for example. The US PB has no metropolitan authority. In the coverage of the NY meetings, this point was raised … e.g., she cannot grant oversight or psuedo metropolitan authority as she does not now possess those powers.”

So the polite phonecall to AB York was not made, because York is a Metropolitan but the American PB isn´t?

I would never have guessed ;=)

Göran Koch-Swahne
17 years ago

On second thought, I’m willing to modify “purple herring” to a Story about something that never was.

Marshall Scott
17 years ago

Siblings, somehow I fear we’re getting overwrought. In our house we make great use of the principle, “Don’t attribute to wickedness what can be explained just as well by stupidity.” Some bad communication happened. Some bad feelings resulted. Those are certainly regrettable. At this point I don’t see good reason to project these onto our ongoing larger disagreements.

Simon Sarmiento
17 years ago

I don’t understand why anybody thinks the process is obscure. It’s all set out in the Overseas and Other Clergy (Ministry and Ordination) Measure 1967 a copy of which I found on the internet quite easily. Here’s the relevant section: 1 Permission for overseas clergymen to officiate (1) If any overseas clergyman desires to officiate as priest or deacon in the province of Canterbury or York, he may apply to the Archbishop of the province in which he desires to officiate for written permission to do so. (2) The Archbishop may, on any such application, grant the permission either without… Read more »

Martin Reynolds
Martin Reynolds
17 years ago

A little research is a great aid to a good reporter.

Simon Morden
Simon Morden
17 years ago

Andrew – thanks for the reply. You must realise that matters are more complicated than you describe in your article, even to the extent you posted the self-same question on SoF and received suitably Byzantine replies. I agree that ++Akinola should have been allowed to preach (as should your dad at the Bangor engagement) – but I’m surprised at your surprise. The Elephant in the Room is that ++Akinola says some quite nasty things about English Anglicanism, and never apparently apologises for that. To take this event in isolation is rather like complaining that demonstrators are outside the US embassy… Read more »

Andrew Carey
Andrew Carey
17 years ago

Simon,

Strangely enough I am aware of the Overseas and Other Clergy Measure, but a flying visit like this is usually dealt with much more informally – it’s not as though the overseas clergyman in question is taking up residence for even a short period. The obscure bit is more to do with the ‘who asks who’ since the practices vary throughout the Anglican Communion and even in the Church of England from diocese to diocese as a few enquiries of mine show.

Yours,

Andrew

Fr Joseph O'Leary
17 years ago

Andrew Carey’s article makes a very unpleasant impression on this reader. All these niceties about teacup etiquette and not a word about the issues that have made Archbishop Akinola such a feared prelate — namely, his extremist anti-gay views and his schismatic tendencies. Toying with trivialities when such major issues are in question seems to me rather irresponsible.

David Chillman
David Chillman
17 years ago

Simon Morden asked “4. Is this the same ++Akinola who declined an invitation to tea and biscuits from the Presiding Bishop of ECUSA, whilst he and a delegation from the Global South were in her Province?” To which Andrew Carey responded: “Irrelevant in my view.” To which I would reply – poppycock! ++Akinola was one of the four who deliberately and knowingly snubbed the Presiding Bishop’s polite request. So what moral right does he have to complain about being snubbed in this country? The offence, if there was one, is more easily explained by muddle and inefficiency, rather than being… Read more »

Merseymike
17 years ago

Personally, I don’t think he should have been allowed in the country. Why should we encourage people who deliberately promote hatred into Britain? He is exactly the reason why the Anglican Communion is best left to rot.

Simon Sarmiento
17 years ago

I never doubted that in your case, Andrew.
But on a “plain reading” of the Measure, individual dioceses or diocesan bishops do not have any option: it would be for the archbishop in question to decide whether an informal approach is acceptable to him. And overseas bishops would appear to have to comply with section 1 for non-episcopal acts of ministry (a further section of the Measure deals specifically with episcopal acts).

laurence
laurence
17 years ago

Yes, I agree with merseymike. Akinola is a foreign religious extremist and agitator, user of hate speech and act — and like many another cleric, best kept out of the UK.

Or is there one Law for ‘Muslim extremists’ (sic) and another for Christian ones ? !

I notice that apparently, he didn’t avail himself of a chat at Lambeth either.

Simon Morden
Simon Morden
17 years ago

David Chillman has picked up on Andrew’s response to my point 4. I wasn’t using ++Akinola’s previous behaviour to say “Ooh look. Bad man.” I was using it to indicate that firstly, he uses protocol when it suits him, ignores it when he doesn’t. Secondly, to show that in a classic “Prisoners’ dilemma” scenario, Co-operators ought not co-operate with a Cheater once identified. Thirdly, to show that ++Akinola’s complaint comes across as the bully bullied. Furthermore, on the Overseas and Other Clergy Measure, whether or not there is usually some latitude in how permission is obtained, I would have thought… Read more »

Göran Koch-Swahne
17 years ago

One for them!!!

stephen bates
stephen bates
17 years ago

Andrew Carey: If, as you say, these things are usually a matter of a phone call, why wasn’t it made, either by the archbishop or by the church that wanted him to preach? That would surely have been reasonable and a matter of a few minutes if it was all as straightforward a matter as you seem to think. More to the point, as an unbiased journalist, did you not think to ask that simple question? It would have been a pertinent – not to say professional – thing to ask, surely, before expostulating about Sheffield’s alleged rudeness and demanding… Read more »

Andrew Carey
Andrew Carey
17 years ago

Stephen,

I’ll reply to you privately if I may as well as saying the following publicly. The point is that these things are ‘usually’ a matter of a phone call. The church wouldn’t answer my questions and the diocese insisted that they had done things properly. What was ‘unusual’ about this matter is that the ‘usual’ things didn’t happen.

Yours,

Andrew

Martin Reynolds
Martin Reynolds
17 years ago

“…as an unbiased journalist….”

I suppose it is just possible that there may have been the faintest hint of irony in this.

No, no – just my febrile imaginings.

Still – a shame not to have the full exchange in public.

Merseymike
17 years ago

Just struck me, first Carey, now Akinola…someone out there recognises people not worth listening to!

Jim Pratt
Jim Pratt
17 years ago

What’s missing in all this is the role played by St. Thomas’ (other than Andrew Carey’s inability to get any information from them. Did they mis-communicate to the Nigerian chaplain the message they received from the diocese? Or did they torpedo it deliberately, by deciding not to call ++York and then just telling the chaplain no? The invitation came initially from the archbishop’s doctor, a parishioner, and not from the Vicar. Is it possible that the leadership of St. Thomas didn’t really want him to preach? Given the touchy political scene, it’s quite reasonable for +Sheffield to pass the buck… Read more »

Fr Joseph O'Leary
17 years ago

Imagine the family of the previous Archbishop of Canterbury fretting about the bruised sensitivities of Archbishop Akinola, a supporter of brutal suppression of gays in his own country and one who seeks to bring his brand of clerical fascism to the US and the UK! This would be a delightful comic subplot in a Trollope novel.

Leonardo Ricardo
Leonardo Ricardo
17 years ago

“I’ll reply to you privately as well as saying the following publicly.” Andrew Carey

The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.

Sinner
Sinner
17 years ago

First, let us be clear: Akinola and the other visiting Priamtes did not *snub* Schori. The Churches of Nigeria, Uganda, the Southern Cone, etc, are *not in communion with ECUSA*. Akinola has made quite clear at the last Primate’s meeting in Dromantine, and at the ACC meeting in Nottingham his attitude to US Primates and ECUSA (that neither Griswold nor Schori has primatial authority; that he recognises Duncan as moderator of the Network as the only US Primate; and that ECUSA should be expelled forthwith from the communion). This is a matter of repeated public record. On the other hand,… Read more »

Simon Morden
Simon Morden
17 years ago

What doublespeak is this?

“First, let us be clear: Akinola and the other visiting Priamtes did not *snub* Schori. The Churches of Nigeria, Uganda, the Southern Cone, etc, are *not in communion with ECUSA*.”

The Anglican Communion is defined as those Anglican churches in communion with Canterbury. ECUSA and all the churches Sinner mentions are in communion with Canterbury. So they are, in effect, in communion with each other.

What unilateral action ++Akinola takes is up to him – Duncan is the moderator of a schismatic grouping within ECUSA, and pretending otherwise is doing no one any favours.

Colin Coward
17 years ago

I didn’t read through the comments on this story until today. It wasn’t until mid-day Sunday that Jim in his post reminded me the invitation came initially from the archbishop’s doctor, a parishioner, and not from the Vicar. Has anyone checked who the doctor is? Is he a renowned specialist who has previously attended to Archbishop Akinola, or a local GP? Having read the news report and Andrew’s piece in the CEN on Friday, I had questions lurking in my mind about the story, some of which have been addressed above. But details remain curious. Archbishop Akinola and the parish… Read more »

Colin Coward
17 years ago

I didn’t read through the comments on this story until today. It wasn’t until mid-day Sunday that Jim in his post reminded me the invitation came initially from the archbishop’s doctor, a parishioner, and not from the Vicar. Has anyone checked who the doctor is? Is he a renowned specialist who has previously attended to Archbishop Akinola, or a local GP? Having read the news report and Andrew’s piece in the CEN on Friday, I had questions lurking in my mind about the story, some of which have been addressed above. But details remain curious. Archbishop Akinola and the parish… Read more »

laurence
laurence
17 years ago

Thanks for your commendation of my ‘detective work’, Andrew Carey. As 1 private individual, I have exercised my right, not give more names than one. As a journalist you give your names. In fact, you seem to have built an entire career on the family name.

Lgbt people still have to watch ourselves when in any public (or quasi-public arena).

Now — there IS a story for you !

DaveG
DaveG
17 years ago

I see all this “listening” stuff is pure balderdash. Whine that conservatives won’t listen to the experiences of gays, lesbians, bi-sexuals and the transgendered, but refuse to allow the primate of Nigeria to speak at all. Perhaps one of you champions of inclusion can explain that to me.

Andrew Carey
Andrew Carey
17 years ago

Laurence,

I made no criticism of your right to use whatever name you like when posting in a public forum. My comment was directed more at the puerile ‘We know who your father is’ comment. I see you have continued the theme with your latest post.

Andrew

mynsterpreost (=David Rowett)
mynsterpreost (=David Rowett)
17 years ago

Perhaps one of you champions of inclusion can explain that to me. Personally, I’d have welcomed ++Abuja being allowed to preach, but I bow to the need to follow protocol. It could be pointed out, though, that ++Abuja’s not exactly denied opportunities to broadcast his opinions. It could also be pointed out that to seek to deliver his thoughts to an adulatory audience at a ConsEv set-up is not quite the same as being invited to give his thoughts to a more critical audience, who might ask him awkward questions, just as the GLBT folk expect to have hard questions… Read more »

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