Openly gay Anglican Bishop Gene Robinson got a bit sneaky with some Catholic priests a few years back:

Robinson said he led a confidential retreat a few years ago for gay Roman Catholic priests.

Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church and world Anglican Communion, said the Catholic priest group that organized the meeting had invited him to attend.

About 75 Catholic clergy from around the U.S. participated without notifying their bishops or provincial leaders, Robinson said.

Robinson wouldn't disclose details of this mens' weekend, but did reveal that he urged them to fight for women's rights within the priesthood: "I believe that if you work for the ordination of women in your church, you will go a long way toward opening the door for the acceptance of gay priests."

Upset over the Anglican Communion's refusal to condemn the ascension of openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson, the Global Anglican Future Conference Movement flew to Uganda this week to consolidate their anti-gay sentiment.

Indian Bishop Vinay Samuel explains This meeting is an exercise to explain the declaration we made after [this summer's] conference in Jerusalem. We need to explain to those who disagree with us on the issue of taking the authority of the Bible as we do."

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Anglican Reverend Jim Cotter got a good finger-wagging after blessing a lesbian couple's same-sex union.

Cotter says he received approval from the local church council, but the Archbishop of Wales, Barry Morgan, caught wind of the event and put his foot down. Morgan and his underlings informed their congregants that they did not approve of the event and made clear they won't tolerate such gay shenanigans:

The service which took place at St Hywyn's Aberdaron on July 12 should not have taken place and the Archbishop is dealing with the matter.

The Church in Wales regards marriage as the lifelong union between a man and a woman and this is what is conveyed in its liturgy and recognized in law.

The Church in Wales does, however, affirm the value of committed friendships between people of the same sex and clergy are encouraged to minister sensitively and pastorally to gay and lesbian people.

Well, it's certainly nice to know the Church allows people of the same sex to be friends…

Desmond Tutu, the coolest Anglican Archbishop in all the land, took some time this weekend to blast his pious peers' "obsession" with gay inclusion.

The Anglican church remains split on how - and why - homos should be brought into the Biblical fold, largely due to the ascension of gay American Bishop Gene Robinson in 2004. And the debate, said Tutu at a conference in England, has been distracting the communion from more pressing matters, like poverty:

We seem to be engaging in this kind of, almost, past-time [while] there's poverty, hunger, disease, corruption.

I must imagine that God is weeping, and the world quite rightly should dismiss the Church in those cases as being totally irrelevant.
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It will be good for us obviously, to resolve our differences on this, and maybe accept that we agree to differ.

Ha! We love you, Tutu, but you know the right-wing set won't sign on to such a plan. Although, yes, they'd be wise to focus their energies elsewhere.

Dr Jeffrey John could become the British Gene Robinson.

Robinson, of course, is the American Episcopal preacher man whose ascension to Bishop nearly split the Anglican Communion. Well, John had a similar experience five years ago, when his appointment as Bishop of Reading was canceled over concerns about his gay ways. It seems the Church of England has come around, however, because leaders are mulling making John the nation's first openly gay diocesan bishop.

And, naturally, there's plenty of debate on both sides of the ideological divide:

Liberals welcomed the news, but conservatives gave warning that it would aggravate the tensions over sexuality that are threatening to rend the Anglican Communion in two and revive the rancour that followed the consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson.
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Despite his civil partnership with the Rev Grant Holmes, Dr John is celibate. But conservatives oppose his elevation because he has written persuasively in support of a new scriptural understanding of homosexuality.

The governing body of the Church in Wales turned down a proposal for women bishops recently, but the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, is a known liberal who is on record as saying that he would be willing to consecrate Britain’s first gay bishop.

Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, has remained mum on the issue. He did, however, play an instrumental role in the abortion of John's 2003 appointment.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's on a homophobic roll!

Just last month the politico applauded his country men for coming out against the queers. Now he's at it again, this time extending a warm hand to the Anglican Church, which recently bolstered its homophobic beliefs.

Said Museveni while attending the consecration of the Rev. Canon Patrick Gidudu, "I salute the Archbishop and bishops of Africa for resisting disorientation and a decadent culture, which he said was being passed by Western nations.”

The President went on to warn of the destructive gay ways: "It is a danger not only to the believers, but to the whole of Africa. It is bad if our children become complacent and think that people who are not in order are alright."

Anglican leaders are currently in England hammering out their differences. And those differences are immense.

While some Western representatives support gay inclusion, others aren't feeling so welcoming. This, of course, puts spiritual leader Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in an awkward position. Thus, hoping to keep the international communion from crumbling, Williams yesterday came out against homo sex:

The Archbishop of Canterbury has continued his quest for Anglican unity with a strong statement against living in sin and gay sex.

Dr Williams said: "I do not believe that sex outside marriage is as God purposes it."

And he said he remained "committed" to the Church's official stance against gay sex, which aims to preserve Biblical norms.

Williams also dismissed rumors of an Anglican schism, saying, "If it is the end of the Anglican Communion I do not think anyone has told most of the people here.”

As anti-gay Anglicans threaten to seize the international movement, activists are raising their voices - and fists - against the conservative sect. But, of course, that same sect's not about to stand by silently:

Gay rights activists have been thrown out of a summit of rebel Anglicans opposed to liberalisation of church teaching on issues such as homosexuality.

Campaigner Peter Tatchell and fellow protesters attempted to storm the meeting in central London which follows the setting up of a break-away group threatening the union of the world-wide communion.
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Mr Tatchell said: "this breakaway faction of the Anglican Church is based on prejudice against women and gay people; it has nothing to do with Christ's gospel of love and compassion."

Nor, we think, does it have to do with the gays. It's about playing power games, pure and simple.

Conservative Anglican leaders aren't breaking away from the international communion, but they are hoping to change the balance of power.

Anglican conservatives, frustrated by the continuing stalemate over homosexuality in the Anglican Communion, declared Sunday that they would defy historic lines of authority and create a new power bloc within the communion led by a council predominantly of African archbishops.
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They depicted their efforts as the culmination of an anti-colonial struggle against the communion’s seat of power in Britain, from which missionaries first carried Anglican Christianity to the developing world. The conservatives say many of the descendants of those Anglican missionaries in Britain and North America are following a “false gospel” that allows a malleable interpretation of Scripture.

Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola, known for his virulent homophobia, called the decision a "new beginning." We call it bullshit - how are you going to use liberation struggles as the "inspiration" for such a hateful shift? It's just gross.