Martin Bashir reports for the BBC during the Archbishop Justin Welby’s visit to Uganda:
Throughout his visit, Mr. Welby has been accompanied by the Archbishop of Uganda, the Most Reverend Stanley Ntagali. On the issue of refugees, the suffering of displaced persons and the desperate plight of South Sudan, there is complete unanimity. But there are other issues that are troubling their relationship.
Mr. Ntagali is a leading conservative evangelical, whose province in Uganda is continuing to grow in Christian converts.
But he was angered by the American Episcopal Church’s decision to endorse same-sex relationships and walked out of a global gathering of archbishops in Canterbury last year.
… The next gathering of archbishops will again take place in Canterbury, this coming October. But Mr. Ntagali has written to the Archbishop of Canterbury explaining that he will not be attending.
While Mr. Welby respects the assertion of strong theological views, he believes that the church should not be split by issues that are not, in his words, “creedal” that is, not directly related to the creed of the church.
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This report says Archbishop Ntagali did not broach the issue and did not wish to dwell on it: “Archbishop Ntagali was asked by the BBC’s Martin Bashir, who is traveling with the Archbishop of Canterbury to South Sudan and Uganda, whether he would attend the next Primates conference. ‘No. … I made it clear I am not attending,’ replied the archbishop, before attempting to stop the interview, which he said was supposed to be about the refugee crisis in the region.”
Matthew Townsend is the former news editor of The Living Church and former editor of the Anglican Journal. He lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.