Marriage outside man-woman tie unholy, says Australian bishop

Former Sydney Archbishop, the Most Rev Peter Jensen, says sexual expression must occur within the bonds of marriage between a man and woman and anything else is unholy matrimony.

Jensen made the statement in Nairobi in his address at a luncheon of the second Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) Primates with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby early this week.

Jensen said: “When we look at scripture on the issue of human sexuality and look at it again, it is the same message; human sexual expression needs to occur within the bonds of marriage between a man and a woman.

“The debate on the clarity of scripture is that the Bible is for everybody; It speaks for itself and all can read it and interpret it for themselves.”

Jensen strongly denied suggestions that GAFCON was a breakaway movement from the Anglican Communion.

“The genesis of GAFCON was the authority of Scripture: Is the word of God the word of God?

“GAFCON is a movement of unity; we are authentic, true Anglicans; are we really the Anglican Communion? No, the intention is to gather up the remnants of the Anglican Communion.

“To be authentic true Anglicans, we need to stand for Biblical truth that is going to cost you dearly indeed. GAFCON is a way of delivering friendship. Being here we know we are not alone.”

The archbishop recounted that during the maiden edition of GAFCON held in Jerusalem in 2008, the Anglican church leaders saw a way of modeling the Anglican Communion.

He expressed delight that the movement had paid off five years later, with the gathering of 1,350 Anglican Christians in Nairobi from 40 countries and 27 Anglican provinces.

“Anglicans, through no fault of their own, stand for Biblical truth. We are here to gather up the fragments of Christ’s church.

“We bring together Anglicans from all over the world to release the energy of the Anglican Communion to the glory of God’s name,” he said.

Jensen also commended Nigeria’s Anglican leaders, whom, he said, played a crucial role in the formative stage of the movement.

He particularly mentioned the former Primate, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Archbishop Peter Akinola and his successor, Archbishop Nicholas Okoh.

He said: “One of the reasons why it is so appropriate to be here (Nairobi) for GAFCON this week is that it was born in Nairobi, Room 1216 of the Hilton Hotel to be exact.

“A number of people sitting here today were present at that meeting and it was intentionally held here in Kenya.

“The leader of the meeting of course was Archbishop Akinola, and I can remember Archbishop Okoh at his right and Archbishop Okoh’s great contribution to the meeting, amongst others, was to tell us that the word GAFCON was the word we should have.

“So I think it was you (Okoh), who gave us the word GAFCON and for that we are very grateful because it is the Global Anglican Future Conference which we decided on,” he said.

Meanwhile, NAN reports that a major highlight of the conference was the joyous welcome accorded Archbishop Ignatius Kattey, the Dean of Church of Nigeria, and his wife, Beatrice, by delegates to the conference.

NAN recalls that Kattey and his wife were kidnapped last month in Port Harcourt, while he was preparing to host the Church of Nigeria standing committee in his province.

His wife was released hours later but the archbishop spent eight days with his captors.

Okoh presented the couple before the GAFCON delegates, saying: “The Archbishop and his wife passed through the valley of the shadow of death but he resurrected.’’

The conference later offered prayers and thanksgiving to God for the safety and health of the archbishop and his wife.