Noted: "Gay Bishop Must Resign or Confess, Says Sudan Church Head"

Sanity prevails, at least in the Sudan:

The head of the Anglican church in Sudan said on Tuesday that unity could be restored to the troubled Anglican Communion only when the openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson resigns or confesses he has "made a mistake" in embracing homosexuality.

The Most Rev. Dr. Daniel Deng Bul told reporters at the Lambeth Conference, the once-a-decade gathering of Anglican bishops, that Robinson “should resign for the sake of the Church.”

“We consider him as a human being. We are not throwing him away. But he is supposed to resign to allow the Church to be united,” he said. “The norms of the Anglican Communion have been violated.”

He added that those involved with Robinson's consecration also had to confess.
"We as Christians always forgive one another and confess whenever we make mistakes. If they could do that that would help the Anglican world."

Just under a quarter of Communion's bishops have boycotted the Conference in protest of the attendance of pro-gay clergy. The absent bishops, largely conservative church leaders from the Global South, held an alternative summit in Jerusalem last month, the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON).

“I think there is already a breakdown of the Anglican Communion,” the Sudanese archbishop said. “Three hundred bishops have stayed away from this conference because of Gene Robinson. Shouldn’t Gene Robinson resign to allow the 300 bishops to come back to the house?”

In an official statement issued earlier on Tuesday, the Episcopal Church of Sudan said that it could not accept church leaders who practice contrary to the biblical teaching on sexuality. (Christian Today)

Action: 96 Catholic Colleges have pro-homosexual clubs or activities

Sounds like a poor joke, right? Well, it's true.

From the TFP Student Action center:

... TFP volunteers examined the official web sites of 211 Catholic universities and colleges listed by Granley’s Catholic Schools in America. Their research discovered that 45% have pro-homosexual clubs. Many of these clubs share in the movement’s radical goal – to force social acceptance of unnatural vice on Christian America, and gag expressions of free speech that oppose the movement’s ideological agenda.

... However, the number of pro-homosexual clubs on Catholic campuses may exceed 45% because not all clubs are listed on university web sites.

Action points:

1. Read the full report of the TFP.
2. See the list of Catholic colleges with pro-homosexual clubs
3. Send a pre-written (but customizable) letter to your school, if it applies.

Here in Washington, DC, Georgetown is the most blatant offender:

"... Georgetown University, the nation’s oldest Catholic university, recently agreed to open and fully fund a new center for homosexual students in addition to the already existing pro-homosexual club on campus."

Georgetown hosts mock same-sex “wedding”, grants health benefits to the partners of homosexual employees, and provides services for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Youth and their Families.

On the GU Pride University website, photos from their "Coming OUT Day 2006" include shots of gay and lesbian students kissing at the public event, and other untoward images. A sample caption? "There's nothing strange about people in bright orange shirts kissing each other in a public forum with hundreds of people walking by and staring, right?"

Instead of directly answering that question, let me be very clear: the reason to decry "pro-homosexual" clubs is not because the Catholic Church is "anti-homosexual." It is because (for example) the Church cannot endorse or promote behaviors that hurt the human person, like these clubs do.

And there's nothing strange about that.

[photo: GUPride]

Gay Episcopal bishop Robinson pouts about Lambeth snub

Associated Press:

The first openly gay Episcopal bishop announced he will have no official role in a meeting this summer of world Anglican leaders, saying restrictions that organizers wanted to place on his involvement had caused him "considerable pain."

Irony:

"I am dismayed and sickhearted that we can't sit around a table, as brothers and sisters in Christ, and study Scripture together," he said. "It makes me wonder, if we can't sit around a table and study the Bible together, what kind of Communion do we have and what are we trying to save?"

What kind of Communion do they have and are trying to save? Oh, maybe the communion called for in Lev 18:22, Lev 20:13, 1 Cor 6:9-10 and Rom 1:26-28, for a start start. It's hypocritical of him to accuse Lambeth of being uncharitable towards him when it is he who is condoning acts explicitly forbidded by God in scripture.

One thing I can agree with that Robinson said: "Pray for me. I will need that. A lot."

The UK Guardian, meanwhile, notes that Robinson will be at Lambeth although not participating in it, and 'planned to be available to anyone interested in "pursuing conversations that would include him'".

I blogged at-length here about the challenges facing the Anglican communion this year at Lambeth.