The letter published on the Global South Anglican Web site on 16 November demanded Williams take action against "unrepented sexual immorality" in the church, the ordination of homosexuals in North America, and allowing celibate clergy in England to enter into same-sex civil partnerships.

"While I saw a first draft of the letter, I was not involved in any subsequent discussion of it," said Bishop Clive Handford, the presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, although he did not say he opposed the contents.

In a statement posted on the Web site of the Anglican Communion, Handford said he had not given permission for his name to be used on the letter, and believed the publication of the letter was unhelpful to the church's mission. "Several other primates (leading bishops) shared my unease," Handford noted.

The letter was issued after a meeting in El Sukhna in Egypt of Anglican leaders from developing countries, attended by the Archbishop of Canterbury. It contended that Williams was in "personal dissent" from the consensus of the wider church on homosexuality.

Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola, who chaired the Egypt meeting, said the letter represented a collective response to the address given by Williams at that gathering, and he denied the names of any bishops had been wrongfully included.

"While every person is entitled to a change of opinion, the incontrovertible and indisputable fact remains that at our meeting in El Sukhna the first draft of the response was circulated to all present to peruse, and give us any additional input or objection," Akinola stated on the Global South Anglican Web site. "It is pertinent to say no-one objected."

All articles (c) Ecumenical News International
Reproduction permitted only by media subscribers and provided ENI is acknowledged as the source.

Ecumenical News International
PO Box 2100
CH - 1211 Geneva 2
Switzerland

Tel: (41-22) 791 6088/6111
Fax: (41-22) 788 7244
Email: eni@eni.ch