An international conference of Methodists planned for New Zealand was moved to Fiji because of New Zealand's gay preacher "problem". When asked whether New Zealand was dropped as the conference destination because of the ordination of gay preachers, the Regional Secretary of the World Methodist Council Manase Tafea replied, "Yes, the reason New Zealand was slow in making a decision was that they had internal problems." “The main issue of New Zealand in relation to the World Methodist Evangelism and in relation to the Pacific churches is the ordination of homosexuals. We tried to go in and help New Zealand but the New Zealand church was not ready for us.” Tafea says all the Pacific countries, including New Zealand, will discuss the issue of gay ordinations at the conference. Ironically, they will also be discussing what can be done to eliminate racism.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Thursday, 13th January 2005 - 12:00pm