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Kenya: If All Gay Clergy Came Out, the English Church Would Close
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The Nation (Nairobi)
OPINION
9 August 2007
Posted to the web 9 August 2007
Charles Onyango-Obbo
Nairobi
THE GAY BISHOP OF NEW Hampshire in the US, the Right Rev Gene Robinson, whose ordination sparked the split in the Anglican Communion, is a remarkably brave man.
According to The Times, Robinson, who is divorced and lives openly with a gay man, has claimed that the mother Church of the Anglican Communion would come close to shutting down if it was forced to manage without gay clergy.
He said he found it "mystifying" that the Church of England is unable to be honest about the number of gay clergy in its ranks.
He alleged that many of the English Church's clergy lived openly in their rectories with gay partners, with the full knowledge of their bishops.
Well, what Robinson is saying is that Anglican bishops pretend not to "see" the gay priests (who haven't come out openly like Robinson), because they would have to discipline them.
And because they are very many of them, the Anglican church (except in Africa, perhaps) would just have to close shop because it would hardly have any priests left.
But Robinson is not the only brave and controversial person in the news. From Denmark the weekly magazine, See and Hear, published photos showing a prostitute posing naked astride the thrones of Queen Margrethe II and her consort, Prince Henrik.
There are many red faces in Copenhagen, and a royal security review has been ordered. The Queen, who has been living at another palace, is thought not to have been in Christianborg Palace when the photos were taken.
The prostitute, whom the magazine has refused to name, disclosing only that she is aged 43 and claims to have taken the pictures herself with an automatic camera, was pictured in the Throne Room, one of the castle's reception rooms which is open to the public for guided tours, but is also used for ceremonial and state events.
Queen Margrethe II holds a fortnightly audience there with politicians and receives foreign ambassadors while seated on the royal throne, which, with this controversy, has probably become the world's most famous.
To more modern matters, now that Safaricom and Celtel have introduced the Blackberry, we should brace ourselves for its dramatic lifestyle-changing effects.
The Guardian reports that a survey by America Online and Opinion Research of 4,025 Americans over the age of 13 found that almost six out of 10 used their mobile email gadgets in bed.
Four out of 10 said they woke up in the night to reply to their emails. But, says the paper, the figure that will shock America is that 12 per cent admitted to sneaking a look at their Blackberrys while sitting in a church or a synagogue.
ONE IN SIX ADMITTED THEY WERE addicted to Blackberrys, with more women (16 per cent) than men (13 per cent) facing up to it, confirming yet again that men will always be a little behind women in confronting their demons.
Maybe they have good reason to be. The world hasn't been kind to them lately - particularly if they are Italian.
First, The Independent reports, Italy's highest court of appeal struck a blow for wives under the sway of jealous husbands by ordering a jealous spouse to leave town!
A woman has brought a case against her husband, complaining that he had banned her from leaving the marital home.
To make sure she did not break the rule, he set up a closed-circuit television camera outside the front door. If he had to stay late at work, he insisted that her mother went round, if necessary all night, to make sure she did not stray.
The man admitted to doing all those things, but argued they were just the result of his "loving attentions" to her.
The case has yet to be heard, but in the meantime, the judges have ordered the husband to leave his home town of Soleto, southern Italy, until it is resolved.
The next day, according to The Times, another Italian judge ruled that wives or husbands who suspect marital infidelity are entitled under the law to bug their spouse's car in the search for incriminating evidence.
The judge said that the law forbidding bugging applied only to homes, with a penalty of up to four years in prison.
It seems Italian women are very touchy about bad husbanding. A survey in Donna Moderna, a women's magazine, said that 92 per cent of Italian women would not forgive their husband for betraying them.
The favourite quote of the week must, surely, go to Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangrai who, you will remember, together with other government critics, were recently set upon by the police and party goons and beaten properly.
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Commenting on the attack, Tsvangrai said: "When Mugabe said he was going to beat me at the polls, I didn't think he meant it quite so literally. All I remember is waking up in hospital with a fractured skull. Still, I'm a good 20 years past the average life expectancy for a Zimbabwean man, so I can't grumble."
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