Anglican Mainstream

By Ed Beavan, Church Times

At the end of last year, it was announced that ten Primates from the Global South intended to boycott the meeting, in protest at the inclusion of the US Primate after rows over gay bishops and same-sex blessings (News, 26 November).

The Church Times understands that this number might have risen to 14 out of the possible 37 Primates eligible to attend. (There is one vacancy.) The general secretary of the Anglican Communion Office (ACO), Canon Kenneth Kearon, believes, however, that those who stay away, “in protest after developments in the Episcopal Church” in the United States, will number “less than ten”. There might be other absentees because of health or visa issues, he said.

He admitted, however, that numbers would be unknown until the meeting began on Tuesday. “Given that most Primates make their own travel arrangements, and that plans can change at the last minute, it is impossible for anyone to say for certain how many Primates will travel to Dublin for the meeting.”

The ten Primates in the original boycott are understood to be those of Jerusalem & the Middle East, the Indian Ocean, South-East Asia, the Southern Cone, Rwanda, West Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria, Uganda, and Kenya. A Global South spokesman suggested that another four were likely to stay away. One of these, the Primate of Sudan, has other matters demanding his attention in the wake of his country’s referendum.

The Global South Primates say they are disillusioned with the Archbishop of Canter­bury’s unwillingness to take dis­ciplinary action against the US Church, despite recommendations made at previous Primates’ Meetings. They feel that dialogue has been used as a means to delay a solution to the current crisis in the Communion. Nor do they trust the “Instruments of Communion”, notably the ACO and the Archbishop of Canterbury, to implement any recommen­dations that are made in Dublin. And they object that there has been a lack of consulta­tion, especially over the agenda, in the run-up to the Dublin meeting.

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H/T John Richardson, Chelmsford FCA

He is the Right Reverend Andrew Proud, and is currently the area bishop of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa.

And on that issue, this is what he has written in the past:

[...] Having made a plea for openness, kindness and respect[lxvi] we still need to assert that the culture of the Church is different to the culture of the world. As the Latin American, Roman Catholic symposium on evangelisation put it, "The inculturation of faith and the evangelization of culture go together as an inseparable pair, in which there is no hint of syncretism: this is the genuine meaning of inculturation."[lxvii] The Church must not be afraid to reassert its core beliefs and values, for the sake of the Gospel, even if many in the North, watching news reports of the Lambeth Conference on their television screens, will understand it to be a debate about human rights and the right of individuals to pursue personal happiness.[lxviii] Increasingly, it looks to me, from here, that the promotion of same-sex marriage and the ordination of openly homosexual individuals, are both the desperate, last-ditch attempts by a sinking Church to stay afloat in an otherwise alien and hostile culture. That, it seems to me, quoting Christopher Clapham, is about seamanship rather than navigation; staying afloat rather than getting anywhere.[lxix] For me, his whole issue is about mission and experience has taught me that, to have an effective mission, we need to be faithful to our apostolic faith in all its fullness.

Thus, I believe that much more is at risk here than personal happiness and self-fulfilment. What is at stake is nothing less than the credibility of the Christian Gospel and of the Anglican Church itself, both of which impact upon the effectiveness of her mission. It is a simple matter of fact that the Anglican Communion is no longer the preserve of the global North. Historical precedence no longer gives those of us from the North the right to direct what the rest of the Communion shall believe or practice. The Anglican Communion is now as much their Church as ours. The voices of the global South[lxx] will make uncomfortable listening for many in the North, but we should all listen. For, as Kwame Bediako suggests, the global South might indeed be in a position to secure the future of Christianity in the North. Africa has changed my own discipleship and renewed within me the sense of call and commitment I felt as an ordinand. It is my prayer, for the sake of the land and people of my birth, that Bediako will be proved to have been right.

By Moses Matenga, Newsday

Senior priests in the Anglican Church faction led by excommunicated Archbishop Nolbert Kunonga have declared their church’s unwavering allegiance to Zanu PF and said the church prayed only for President Robert Mugabe and no other leader.

Harare diocesen secretary of the church Reverend Admire Chisango accused NewsDay and other independent media of working in cahoots with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T party in a bid to destroy Kunonga’s faction of the Anglican Church and to effect regime change in Zimbabwe.

“You have been fed with lies by the other faction that is what brought you here,” Chisango said.

The interview took place at Pax House where tenants have been complaining about general neglect of the property since its seizure by the Kunonga faction.  There have been water and electricity cuts because of non-payment of bills.

Chisango accused the complaining tenants of being members of the MDC-T who were out to tarnish the image of the church.

Kunonga fell foul with leaders of the church after he made remarks accusing the church of being led by homosexuals.

He was eventually ex-communicated and expelled from the Anglican Church Province of Central Africa in 2007 but proceeded to form his own which he called the Anglican Church of the Province of Zimbabwe.

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By Charles Lewis, National Post

Last week National Post columnist Ian Hunter predicted a bleak future for the Church of England and Anglicanism in general.

Prof. Hunter, a convert to Catholicism, clearly has little love for the Anglican Church. But his own disappointments with the church that he fled may be clouding his vision.

He notes that in Britain there are already more people worshiping in mosques than in the Church of England. He then goes on to say how Anglicanism has drifted from its roots to something lacking definition.

“Whether one examines liturgy, doctrine, or the trendy issues like women bishops and homosexual marriages, the reality is that the contemporary Anglican Church bears hardly any resemblance to the spirit of the 39 Articles of Religion that once defined this historic institution.”

He mentions the recent statement by five Church of England bishops who said they were heading to the Roman Catholic Church because they were “distressed by developments in faith and order in Anglicanism which we believe to be incompatible with the historic vocation of Anglicanism and the tradition of the Church for 2,000 years.”

Prof. Hunter may be right about the Anglican Church in Britain today. But there is a problem if his readers confuse what is going on in Britain — or Canada or the United States, for that matter — with the reality of worldwide Anglicanism.

First, Anglicanism is not dying; it is growing at a stupendous rate in Africa, where more than half the world’s 80 million Anglicans live. Philip Jenkins, the distinguished professor of history and religion at Pennsylvania State University, has estimated that by 2050 there will be 150 million Anglicans in the world, “of whom only a tiny minority will be White Europeans.”

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By Charles Raven, SPREAD

From The Zimbabwean

JOHANNESBURG — Two senior Zimbabwe Anglican bishops have been told they could be assassinated, the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has revealed, as the fight for control of the church in the southern African country gets dirtier.

The Anglican Church in Zimbabwe has been in turmoil ever since the Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA) – the church’s supreme authority in the region — first suspended and later excommunicated a former bishop who is a close ally of President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) party.

Nolbert Kunonga, who as bishop of Harare attempted to use the pulpit to defend the Zimbabwean leader’s controversial rule, was excommunicated in 2008 after trying to withdraw the Harare diocese from the Anglican Church. He claims he revolted against the mother church because it supported the ordination of gay priests.

Kunonga with the backing of government police and security agents has been able to grab control of church halls and other property in Harare and has regularly blocked Bishop Chad Gandiya — who was appointed head of the Harare diocese by the CPCA — and his followers from using the churches to worship.

Williams’ office said Kunonga, his supporters in Zanu (PF) and the security establishment have stepped up their campaign of intimidation with some priests not aligned to the renegade bishop arrested, while Gandiya and Bishop Julius Makoni of the Manicaland diocese were informed they were targets for assassination.

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From Philip Ashey, AAC

Earlier this year, Anglican Communion Secretary General Kenneth Kearon announced that the representatives of TEC would be removed from all ecumenical dialogue groups as well as a commission on Anglican Faith and Order for violating the moratoria on non-celibate homosexual bishops and same-sex blessings.  Even though this sanction was extremely limited, it had a certain logic to it.  In ecumenical discussions and relationships, representatives of a church body must be able to faithfully represent the teaching of the church body they are representing.  Lambeth Resolution 1.10 (1998) on human sexuality and holy orders remains the official teaching of the Anglican Communion.  Representatives from TEC cannot faithfully represent the Anglican Communion because of their conscious, continuing and premeditated violations of Lambeth 1.10 by consecrating another non-celibate homosexual bishop and continuing to permit and promote same-sex blessings.

At the same time, a letter was sent to Archbishop Gregory Venables of the Southern Cone asking for clarification of his province's involvement in boundary crossings.  Since no response has been received from ++Venables, Kearon has now announced that a representative from the Southern Cone will also be removed from an Anglican Communion body:

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From Church Times

THE Archbishop of Canterbury has stripped a second theologian, this time a conservative, of his membership of an international body.

It is the Bishop of Chile, the Rt Revd Tito Zavala, whose place on the Inter Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO) has now been withdrawn. The secretary-general of the Anglican Communion, Canon Kenneth Kearon, made the announcement yesterday.

The Archbishop’s move is part of a crackdown on provinces seen to be in breach of the moratoria concerning same-sex unions, the consecration of gay bishops, and the flouting of provincial boundaries. These were asked for by the Primates’ Meeting and confirmed by IASCUFO itself.

In his Pentecost letter (News, 28 May), Dr Williams warned that provinces that breached these moratoria could no longer represent the Anglican Communion on inter-Anglican bodies such as IASCUFO, or take part in the various ecumenical dialogues that are currently under way.

Shortly after the release of the Pentecost letter, Canon Kearon announced that the membership of the representative on IASCUFO for the Episcopal Church in the United States, the Revd Dr Katherine Grieb, had been withdrawn. She was invited to serve as a consultant instead.

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By Matthew Davies, Episcopal Life Online

The Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, has written to Bishop Tito Zavala of Chile informing him that his membership on the Inter Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO) has been withdrawn and inviting him instead to serve as a consultant to that body.

By George Conger, CEN

The new Archbishop of Rwanda, the Most Rev. Onesphore Rwaje, has vowed to carry on the policies of his predecessor, Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini, and push for the reform of the Anglican Communion.

In an interview with the New Times of Kigali published last week, the new archbishop, who will take office in January said he would hold fast to the church’s traditional teachings on human sexuality.

“Anything that is contrary to God’s family set-up is not acceptable; there is nowhere in the Bible where same-sex marriage is encouraged. God created a man and woman to be the basis of a family,” the archbishop said.

The Anglican Church of Rwanda has also been at the forefront of the reform movement within the Anglican Communion. While it supports in principle the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Anglican Covenant process, it has been less than enthusiastic about how such a structure might work, given the anarchy now prevalent across the Communion.

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From Church Times

PRIMATES from the Global South are contemplating a boycott of the next Primates’ Meeting because the US Presiding Bishop, Dr Katharine Jefferts Schori, will be present.

The Archbishop of the Indian Ocean, the Most Revd Ian Ernest, has confirmed that he will not attend the meeting, due to take place in Dublin, 25-31 January.

Archbishop Ernest said last week that he had written to the Archbishop of Canterbury in the summer to convey his distress at the election in the United States of the Rt Revd Mary Glasspool, a partnered lesbian, as Bishop of Los Angeles. He had urged Dr Williams to exclude Dr Jefferts Schori from future Primates’ Meet­ings.

“There were conditions attached in that letter,” he said last week, “and I can confirm I will not attend if those conditions are not fulfilled.”

Dr Jefferts Schori has already con­firmed that she will attend the meeting.

Primates of the Global South are expected to meet this month to discuss whether they will refuse en masse to attend.

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By George Conger, CEN

By Pat Ashworth, Church Times

AFRICANS must take their destiny into their own hands and address their own problems, bishops of the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa (CAPA) declared at the end of their week-long conference about effective leadership for sustainable development (News, 27 August).

The world must listen to the Churches’ unique voice, they say, in the first of two communiqués. One deals with the continent’s ills; the other, from the CAPA Primates, addresses the internal affairs of the Anglican Communion.

This second document, with its ringing endorsement of the con­servative Anglican Church of North America (ACNA), provoked a strong reaction from the provinces of Central Africa and of Southern Africa, which said that the majority of the provinces at the conference were being “ambushed”.

The 400 bishops, meeting in Entebbe, Uganda, acknowledged in their communiqué that, while “the centre of gravity of Christianity today appears to be shifting” to Africa, “the Church’s relevance and impact on global mission and to social, economic and political trans­formation of the continent remains a challenge.”

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By John Martin, The Living Church

So where does Entebbe 2010 leave relationships in the Anglican Communion?

The CAPA Primates Communiqué makes it clear that Anglican churches in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom will continue to be closely scrutinized on issues like sexuality and faithfulness to the gospel and the Scriptures. Even though the conference included bishops from provinces which are more “softly softly” on the sexuality issue, the prevailing position has not changed.

The presence of Archbishop Robert Duncan and other bishops of the Anglican Church in North America is significant. It suggests that at least some African provinces will continue to recognize and seek relationships outside what used to be the regarded as the boundaries of Anglicanism.

The majority of African provinces are financially self-supporting. There were strong signals that Africa wants to break reliance on Western churches. Expect that trend to continue.

A large and growing African-Christian diaspora will have a growing effect. African churches have more international connections than ever before, many of them non-institutional. Expect African churches to acquire increasingly nuanced understandings of the West, without compromising their cultural identity or key principles.

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From Virtueonline

Presented by His Grace, The Most Rev Dr Daniel Deng Bul Yak

Your Graces and my fellow bishops of our beloved continent of Africa—on behalf of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, I would like to thank CAPA for organizing the All Africa Bishop’s Conference (AABC) and for the Church of the Province of Uganda for hosting this august Conference.

I bring greetings to you all from the Episcopal Church of the Sudan in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We were shocked to hear of the attacks that occurred in Kampala on 11th July 2010 on innocent people who were watching the World Cup finals. I would like to request His Grace, Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, to convey our condolences to the bereaved families. We assure you of our prayers for quick recovery for those who were injured in these attacks.

“Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28)

Thanksgiving: In Sudan, Christians have been carrying a heavy burden for over 50 years. But we give thanks to the Almighty God that He has safely brought us together here in Kampala. We rejoice in the hope he has given us in His son Jesus Christ. This hope gives us strength in the face of many dangers and difficulties we are now going through in Sudan. Also, we thank God for your prayers and support for the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which was signed five years ago, but we are still asking for your continuing prayer and support as we approach the end of the six-year interim period.

The Peace Process: The peace process in Sudan has reached a critical point. In April [2010] we completed our first multi-party elections in 24 years, and we are now less than 4 months away from the referendum on southern Sudan self-determination and popular consultations for Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile. This is a crucial part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). Unfortunately, there are aspects of the CPA that have not yet been implemented; this includes the demarcation of the 1st January 1956 borders and the full implementation of the Abyei protocol. We call on you to pray for this process and request you to urge your governments to support the full implementation of the CPA and to recognize and accept the outcome of the referendum.

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By David W Virtue in Entebbe

In the heavily nuanced world of verbal gymnastics inhabited by Dr. Rowan Williams there lies a single truth: He is not on the same page with the vast majority of Anglicans in the Anglican Communion most notably in the Global South.

This was evident this past week when he made a guest appearance at the All Africa Conference of Bishops known as CAPA in Entebbe, Uganda.

In his address to some 400 Anglican bishops from a dozen African nations, Williams used his sermon to allude to the difficulties in the Communion, saying bishops have a "special responsibility to show the world the preciousness of those who are hated or neglected by others or by society at large".

Clergy need to listen to those they lead and serve, to find out what "their own hopes and needs and confusions are". They should not pick and choose to whom they minister, he added. "We must love and attend to their humanity in all its diversity. We cannot assume we always know better, that we always have the right answer to any specific question."

The subtext in Williams' words, especially when you see the word "diversity" is not merely those in poverty or with HIV/AIDS but also to homosexuals whom he believes met the criteria of "hated and neglected".

A deeper fiction could not be found. Williams has separated this out in his mind and, by his actions, his private views on the subject from what he must uphold as the church's received teaching. Never mind that no other single group in the world is winning the Culture Wars more decisively than those pressing the case for the full acceptance of homosexual practice. Anyone who dare opposes this behavior can find themselves losing jobs, businesses and going to jail.

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From ACNS

The Archbishop delivered a sermon for Opening Eucharist at the 'Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa All Africa Bishops' Conference, Entebbe, Uganda

The full text of the sermon is below:

My dear brothers and sisters, first let me say a word of heartfelt thanks for the invitation to be part of this wonderful occasion to share fellowship with you, to learn from you. Archbishop Ian thank you and thanks to CAPA for the invitation, Archbishop Henry thank you for all you have done to welcome us all here in this jewel of Africa. I want also to bring the greetings and the prayers of your brothers and sisters of the Church of England many of whom will be praying alongside us in these days ahead and will look to see and hear the great things God will do in this assembly.

Now I apologise to those in this congregation who are not bishops because I want to speak this morning first of all about the ministry of the bishop because this is a conference for those on whom responsibilities have been laid for the leadership of the church. Our readings this morning fill out the nature of that responsibility.

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From Global South Anglican

By Petroc Trelawny, BBC News

The choice of the new Bishop has split the Anglican Church in Malawi.

[.....] Five years ago, an English priest chosen to lead the diocese was accused of being a liberal theologian of "unsound faith".

He was never allowed to take up the position.

The appointment of the conservative Bishop Kaulanda has been equally controversial and the subject of a legal injunction, with detractors claiming he is not qualified for the job.

This is more than just a local row. It comes in the wider context of a battle for the very future of the Anglican Church in Central Africa.

Should it lean in a more moderate, European direction or base itself on so-called "African values", where only men can be priests, scripture is interpreted rigidly, and homosexuality is condemned?

As the churchmen argue amongst themselves, Malawian Christians struggle with more practical issues.

On my way to Nkhotakota, I had stopped at Bandawe, a Presbyterian mission, where a dynamic young priest led a service more akin to a village meeting. Basic health care and subsistence farming were part of his sermon.

"We have to be practical," he told me. "Religion only really works if it encourages people to improve their lives."

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The Bishop in Iran has quit the Anglican Communion’s ‘Standing Committee’.

Bishop Azad Marshall’s decision to stand down will come as a blow to the Archbishop of Canterbury who has sought to vest an unprecedented degree of authority in the new entity—formed by the merger of the Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council and the Standing Committee of the Primates Meeting.

The vote of ‘no confidence’ by yet another leader of the Global South group of Anglican churches serves to isolate Dr. Williams from the conservative and liberal wings of the Communion—diminishing his authority as the political centre collapses from under him.

Bishop Marshall’s withdrawal also comes the same week as the Episcopal Church presents Dr. Williams with a new crisis over the legitimacy of the standing committee, with a fight over the seating of Bishop Ian Douglas of Connecticut on the committee likely to loom large at its next meeting.

The Church of England Newspaper was unable to contact Bishop Marshall, who is traveling in Iran, to confirm his reasons for withdrawing from the standing committee, but those familiar with his decision say it follows in line with the Jan 30 announcement of his primate, Presiding Bishop Mouneer Anis of Jerusalem and the Middle East. Read the rest of this entry »