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Bishop stranded over gay dispute
Paul Whitehouse A FORMER Yorkshire clergyman and a party of Church of England colleagues are stranded in Africa during an official visit after a local archbishop withdrew hospitality in response to his liberal views towards the gay community.
The Right Rev John Gladwin, a former Provost of Sheffield Cathedral who has also served as a Huddersfield curate, is widely known for his tolerant attitude in this country.
But those views apparently remained unknown to church colleagues in Africa until after Bishop Gladwin, who has served as Bishop of Chelmsford since 2003, arrived in Kenya for an official visit.
The local Archbishop apparently discovered his attitude towards the homosexual community and immediately contacted Mr Gladwin to say that hospitality towards him and his 20-strong delegation had been "withdrawn" by the Archdiocese of Kenya because of his views on sexuality.
That has left the party marooned as they have to stay on for a further week before they are able to fly home.
The debacle erupted during the two-week visit to Kenya, with the party setting off from the Britain days after Bishop Gladwin was named as one of four new patrons of Changing Attitude, a campaigning organisation which promotes equal opportunities for the gay, lesbian and bi-sexual communities within the Anglican Church. The situation highlights a fundamental difference in attitude between the Bishop and the Anglican Church in Kenya, which is part of a group known as the "Global South" opposed to the Anglican Church's current teaching about homosexuality.
The Rev Christopher Newlands, chaplain to Bishop Gladwin, and not part of the Kenya visit, said the development was "deeply to be regretted".
"Clearly we are doing everything we can from this end and in Kenya to try to heal the problems that have arisen over this misunderstanding about what working on Changing Attitude means and what the Lambeth Resolutions call us to do – listening to the experiences of lesbian and gay people in the church."
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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