All Tanzania All The Time: Wednesday February 14th

The tensions mount, the sabers rattle and the cry goes up, "How long, O Lord?" Meanwhile, the press reports and blog commentary continues unabated:

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Tanzanian Bishop Mdimi Mhogolo offered a voice of sanity in this Reuters interview:

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"We have no qualms about it in my diocese," Mhogolo told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of a critical Anglican meeting which is set to determine the future of a church struggling with a deep split between developing world conservatives and liberals mainly in the rich West.

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"(If) a gay person has felt: 'I want to help an HIV orphan to go to school', and you say: 'No, I'm not going to receive that money', you are rejecting the person and you are rejecting an answer for the HIV person," Mhogolo said.

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Mad Priest offers a cartoon illustration of the Communion du jour.

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Stephen Bates offers yet-another-profile of Archibshop Akinola, which includes this interesting contextual commentary:

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Akinola seems much more obsessed with what gay white men get up to than with some of the abuses in Africa. He has uttered not a word of condemnation of Bishop Nolbert Kunonga of Harare, a crony of the Mugabe regime, who has been accused by his own black parishioners of seizing white property, evicting black farm workers, and calling for the assassination of his church opponents. Indeed, Akinola invited Kunonga to address a plenary session of the All African Conference of Bishops ...

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"Let there be no illusions," he says to his fellow churchmen. "The Communion is broken and fragmented. The Communion will break." He and his acolytes are content to bring it on, to inaugurate the reign of the righteous. We're a long way from the Vicar of Dibley here.

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And a DIFFERENT Nigerian voice -- Davis Mac-Iyalla of Changing Attitude Nigeria -- has issued an "urgent appeal" to the Primates to speak out against the draconian anti-gay legislation pending in the Nigerian House of Representatives:

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If this bill is not stopped now it will make most lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people illegal in their own country. With their families and friends and anyone they associate with, they will be immediately criminalized. Those arrested under the provision of the law will face a jail sentence of between 5 and 14 years. Some will be forced into exile by this repressive legislation. Any bishop or priest who befriends, baptises, confirms or welcomes an LGBT person into their church will also be guilty of a criminal offence.

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The Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Archbishop Peter Akinola is at the moment in Tanzania meeting with the other Primates. He is a strong supporter of this bill which threatens the lives and security of tens of thousands of LGBT people in Nigeria.

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We are appealing to the Primates in the name of God to add your voices to others who have been calling on the Nigerian Government to stop progress on this bill and withdraw it immediately. The bill will make it impossible for the Anglican Communion to engage in the listening process in Nigeria to which you, the Primates, have committed yourselves in Lambeth resolution 1.10 and the Windsor report. It discriminates against LGBT people. It criminalizes a group which the church claims to love and should in Christian charity be determined to protect from abuse and persecution.

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Meanwhile, The Living Church is reporting schedule changes in the Dar es-Salaam meeting:

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The extra-curricular session with three bishops from The Episcopal Church has been changed from Wednesday afternoon to Thursday morning, according to the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh and moderator of the Anglican Communion Network. The change of date for the special session during the Anglican primates’ meeting was announced last week, but was not widely publicized. No further information was available at press time.

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And a blog to watch is Scott Gunn blogging for inclusivechurch.org from Tanzania:

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The evening press briefing was fairly uneventful. Basically, what we learned (again) is that the primates will set their own agenda, behind closed doors, and we'll find out what they did when it's done. Maybe.OK, we found out a few more things, but that was the gist of it. Tomorrow (Thursday) is when the fireworks will happen. After a Bible study first thing in the morning, the primates will begin their deliberations. The Anglican Communion staffers are saying confidently that the question of +Katharine and +John Sentamu being seated is settled. Rumblings around the pool are different. We'll hear what happens, I guess.

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Either way, there's a story tomorrow. Either +Katharine is accepted by all the primates, or she's sent off. Details as they come tomorrow.As one senior person put it to me today, speaking about the conservative block, "If they don't like it, they can take their hats and go home." Indeed. He was saying that +Rowan and +Katharine are here to stay, and like it or leave it. Amen.