I fathered this diocese

From The Herald (Harare, not Scotland)

RETIRED Bishop Sebastian Bakare leaves his post as Bishop of the Anglican Church’s disputed Harare Diocese following the appointment of Reverend Canon Dr Chad Gandiya as the new leader of the Province of Central Africa.

Bishop-elect Gandiya is expected to take up the post in July this year.

Addressing a Press conference in Harare yesterday, Rtd Bishop Bakare said he was leaving the post since he was appointed on an interim basis.

"As a bishop I am passing on the responsibility.

"I was here on a caretaker basis until another bishop was found," he said.

He said he had been disturbed by the battles for control of the diocese that had raged during his tenure.

"I fathered this diocese . . . I shepherded this diocese so I was looking after its sheep," he said.

Bishop-elect Gandiya, who was trained as a priest in Harare, is currently based in the United Kingdom where he has worked as a lecturer at Birmingham University, among other occupations.

Harare Diocese is at the centre of a dispute pitting two factions, one led by Bishop Nolbert Kunonga and the other by retired Bishop Bakare.

Bishop Kunonga withdrew the Diocese from the Province of Central Africa to form the Province of Zimbabwe following the former’s alleged refusal to condemn the consecration of gay priests.

The Province of Central Africa responded by appointing Bishop Bakare to head the diocese insisting Dr Kunonga had virtually ejected himself from the Anglican Church and, thus, would no longer have a right to the church’s properties.

The dispute, which has spilled into courts, has seen two rival groups attending church services at different times as a compromise while the factions wait for the legal determination of the case.