COU Bans Ssenyonjo

THE Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, Livingstone Nkoyoyo, has banned gay rights advocate, retired Bishop of West Buganda, Dr. Christopher Ssenyonjo, from preaching in any Anglican Church in Uganda, writes Vision Reporter. "Ssenyonjo will never stand on the pulpit in any Anglican Church to preach the gospel. He is gone astray. We can no longer work together with him," Nkoyoyo told journalist after one of the meetings that Ssenyonjo held in America. But Ssenyonjo in reply said, "This chapter is not about crusading and disrupting the peace and tranquillity in place. Instead, it is about listening quietly to our brothers and sisters who do not necessarily share our common views on anything". "It is not true that I am gay and have never for once practised homosexuality in my entire sexuality," he said. However he added, "All my life I have for once thought the Church should be a place for all. Therefore, those people who think they will close out anybody on grounds of sexuality, race, tribe and opinion should think twice". Quoting John chapter Eight verses one to 11, he said he had great sympathy for people who say that by crusading for the gay populace in the county he was looking for money. "This is not true. Instead I can cite many bishops in Church of Uganda who are being paid by the gay folks and have still failed to provide a support system for the gay community here," he said. He said there were many bishops in the Church of Uganda who had supported him in this work "unfortunately they just can not stand the heat". Dr. Ssenyonjo is said to have held a meeting for gays in Washington D.C. where he informed them how far the advancement of gay practice in Uganda had reached. The meeting was held at St. Thomas, Dupont Circle on April 16 where money was raised to buy Ssenyonjo, a computer, a vehicle, renting an office and for his maintenance. This was allegedly after he told the meeting that he feared that he would have no salary when he returned to Uganda. The Church of Uganda recently announced that it was investigating allegations that one of its retired bishops was advocating for rights of gays. The Church's spokesperson, Dr. Jackson Turyagyenda, had said that senior bishops were to meet and see how to deal with this bishop. Journalists who attended one of Ssenyonjo's meetings quoted him as having said that Uganda had 600,000 homosexuals but that they feared to come out in the open. Ssenyonjo is alleged to have been the only African bishop at the Lambeth Conference in 1998 to disagree with other bishops. Ends