Data bite

Christian Century, Dec 27, 2003

Nine of the 38 worldwide Anglican provinces have declared themselves to be in "impaired" or "broken communion" with all or part of the Episcopal Church in the United States since the November 2 consecration of openly gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The latest, according to an Episcopal News Service story December 8, was the Province of South East Asia, which includes Anglicans in Indonesia and Nepal.

The first notice came November 3 from a group of bishops of the Global South led by Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola. Others distancing themselves were Anglican bodies based in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Central Africa, and two bodies that broke in less strident terms--the Anglican Church in Swaziland and the Episcopal Church in Egypt, North Africa and the Horn of Africa.