Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Rt Rev Christopher Senyonjo of Uganda is among the recipients of the annual Global Citizen Awards...and what award will Peter Jensen get upon his retirement?

Leonardo, over at Eruptions at the Foot of the Volcano reports that Rt Rev Christopher Senyonjo of Uganda has received one of the Clinton Global Citizens Awards  for his courageous advocacy on behalf of LGBTQ persons in Uganda.
In 2001,  Senyonjo's life changed forever when he met several gay and lesbian young people who had been rejected by their churches. “They had lost jobs and been expelled from school. Some of them were on the verge of committing suicide.” Senyonjo gave them a radical message for their time and place: “If you are gay or lesbian, God made you and loves you that way, and you should accept yourselves.”
Once word of his compassionate advice reached his successors in the Anglican hierarchy in Uganda, there was a firestorm. Senyonjo was asked to “condemn” the people under his care “and convert them to something else.” Senyonjo said he would not. “I cannot see God where there is no love,” he said, “I would rather go with the truth.”
In reaction, he was expelled from the church he had served for 34 years. More significantly for his own survival, the church stripped him of his pension. “The cost has been great,” Senyonjo said of his post-retirement ministry. “It is by the grace of God that I have been able to survive. By the strength of God I have been able to stand.”
The Bishop is touring the United States and Europe, sponsored by the Episcopal LGBT group Integrity USA (among other organizations) to raise awareness about the draconian law being considered by the Ugandan parliament, which would make homosexuality illegal, in some cases punishable by death. The law has been the result, in part, of lobbying by American evangelical groups, and has the partial support of Bishop Henry Orombi, Anglican Primate of Uganda....
As mainline churches in the United States have become more accepting of LGBT people on issues like ordination and blessing of same-sex relationships, conservatives in these denominations, particularly the Anglican Communion, have appealed to the Global South to seek affirmation for their homophobia.
“There has been an attempt,” Johnson added, “to marginalize the more tolerant Anglican churches in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, suggesting that the center of the ‘true’ faith—that is, the faith that is still discriminatory towards LGBT people and women—is in Africa and the developing world.”
“The African voices that have dared to stand up against overwhelming spiritual, societal, and governmental pressure, like Bishop Senyonjo, Canon Gideon Byamugisha, Bishop Desmond Tutu, and the South African Council of Churches, have exposed the lie that these dividing lines are as strict as they have been portrayed,” Johnson said. “There are multiple voices and perspectives throughout the Anglican Communion.”
Say Calam...that Orombi fella has close ties with Peter Jensen you know...oh and did you hear they might be selling Bishop's Court...I suppose they've got to fund Peter Jensen's pension from somewhere...seeing he lost over $160 million of the diocese's money through incompetent stock market gambling... and profits were to help fund the persecution of GLBTQ world wide...especially in Africa!...Yes hasn't Peter Jensen left a wonderful legacy?

1 comment:

  1. Great summary on Bishop Ssenyonjos compassionate challenge...thank you, Leonardo

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