Washington D.C., Apr 30, 2007 / 09:41 am
The Episcopal Church continues to experience further division as the Anglican archbishop of Nigeria is expected to arrive this week to install a bishop to lead conservative congregations in the United States.
Archbishop Peter J. Akinola is expected to preside at the May 5 installation ceremony of Bishop Martyn Minns in Virginia. Minns will serve as the bishop of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, reported the New York Times.
The new convocation is considered to be an offshoot of the Nigerian church. It was created to oversee congregations that no longer want to be in the Episcopal Church but would like to remain in the Anglican Communion. Archbishop Akinola is the primate of the largest region in the Anglican Communion.
The tension in the Episcopal Church began in 2003 when it decided to consecrate an openly homosexual priest, V. Gene Robinson, as the bishop of New Hampshire.