01/11/2009

Bishops in Central Africa - court case in Malawi - continuing trouble in Zimbabwe and who is to be the next Central African Archbishop?

Who will get to be the next Archbishop of Central Africa?


ANGLICAN-INFORMATION
thanks those readers who have written in wondering what has happened to our newscasts. Some of you had feared that we had closed down – an answer to prayer for some of the provincial bishops perhaps!

The truth is simpler, not much has been going on in the Central African Province recently. However, we do now have some news updates as follows:

Zambia and Botswana:
Remain two countries of the four in the Province where ecclesiastical matters are proceeding normally.

However, in: -

Zimbabwe:
A newly deteriorating political situation continues to frustrate progress in the Anglican Church most particularly in the Diocese of Harare. Self-proclaimed ‘Archbishop of Zimbabwe’ and one time Unification Church (Moonie) lecturer Nolbert Kunonga is proving as obdurate as his friend and mentor President Robert Mugabe. Prayers please, for Dr Chad Gandiya the new Bishop of Harare who is deliberately playing a lower key role than his immediate predecessor Bishop Sebastian Bakare. This does not make Bishop Gandiya’s task any easier or less dangerous.

Malawi:
After Zimbabwe the most damaged part of the Province, caused almost entirely by the actions of the provincial bishops and their predilection for ‘command style’ management riding roughshod over the will and needs of the people.

Diocese of Upper Shire:
There has been a surprise development where the Anglican Communion’s youngest bishop Brighton Malasa was eventually consecrated earlier this year. The original court injunction brought by three priests against Malasa’s selection by the provincial bishops, which had been lifted, has now been allowed on appeal.

This presents an interesting conundrum. If the case is pursued and is successful Malasa, although remaining a bishop, would probably have his tenure of the diocese nullified as being in contempt of a civil court. Opinion is divided in the diocese whether the court case should be continued or not. We will report on developments.

Diocese of Lake Malawi:
Acting Dean Albert Chama is quoted as saying recently “I am prepared to leave the Diocese of Lake Malawi without a bishop for twenty years if I have to” this sounds like and has been taken as a threat.

Nevertheless, the provincial bishops have asked the High Court in Lilongwe to call for an ‘inter-party hearing’ on Monday 9th November in order to try and “talk the laity out” of their objections to the Venerable Francis Kaulanda’s confirmation as Bishop of Lake Malawi. If this were to be successful and the lay-called court injunction were to be lifted, Kaulanda and
Northern Malawi
provincial bishops’ candidate Leslie Mtekateka would be confirmed at a Court of Confirmation to be held by the provincial bishops on Saturday 14th November.

The next Archbishop of Central Africa:
If acting Dean Albert Chama is eventually able to overcome resistance to his episcopal choices and all vacancies are filled the next critical stage for the Province of Central Africa will be the ‘election’of a new Archbishop. As in African ecclesiastical politics the Archbishop has much more direct power than his counterparts in the Anglican Communion whoever succeeds the previous regime of Archbishop Bernard Malango will have the opportunity to pull the Province out of its current malaise or push it in ever deeper.

We will be reporting comparatively on the potential frontrunners in a future edition.

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6 comments:

  1. Anonymous2/11/09

    The charity 'Raising Malawi' (PR firm) founded by Madonna AND TWO OTHERS over three years ago held fund raisers for over two years before finally getting registered as a non-profit. In other words, Madonna and the others were free to squander the lion's share of that funding any way they saw fit for those first two years. In fact, they still havn't accounted for the 3.7 million raised from a single event in the fall of '07' (The opening of a Gucci flagship store in Manhattan.). She also pleaded with her fans worldwide for donations along the way. In the meantime, she toured the world to promote her latest CD and raked in another $280,000,000 gross in just over 12 months. To date, the basic financial info for 'Rasing Malawi' still hasn't been posted on the website or anywhere else. The 'progress' page only tells of the collective works by over 20 seperate charities. Each of which have their own sources of funding and may have recieved some sort of promotion or support from 'Raising Malawi' in order to be considered 'partners'. But no indication is made how much of their funding came from 'Raising Malawi' or how much of their progress if any could be directly attributed to 'Raising Malawi'. The fans/donors have no clue how many millions of dollars were raised in that first two years, no clue how much Madonna herself chipped in, and no clue how the money was spent before they finally registered as a non-profit. No clue what fraction of funding or works listed on that 'progress' page could be directly attributed to 'Raising Malawi'. Nothing to go on but the vague word of Madonna. The vague and very misleading word of Madonna. For example: She states in her latest promotional video that she will match any contributions made to her charity (PR firm) "dollar for dollar". However, there is a disclaimer posted on the website for 'Raising Malawi' that Madonna's total contribution will not exceed $100,000. Thats not per donation. Thats a maximum of $100,000 TOTAL. Less than a single days pay for Madonna. Also much less then she will surely rake in by promoting her own CDs, DVDs, and 'for profit' merchandise through this massive worldwide publicity stunt. So I called the office of 'Raising Malawi' in an attempt to verify some sort of efficient financial operation (310) 867-2881 or (888) 72-DONOR). These details are ALWAYS made available by legitimate charities to their potential donors. But not in this case. I got nothing but recorded messages and hangups. So I did some research on my own. 'Rasing Malawi' still hasn't been given any kind of rating by ANY independent charity watchdog like Charitywatch.org. The vast overwhelming majority of 'celebrity' foundations never are. In general, they are inneficient and riddled with corruption. Like the promotion of CDs, world tours, commercial websites, entire lines of jewelry (not just the single piece from which proceeds are donated), and high end fashion retail flagship stores. Celebrity foundations are also notorious for squandering much of their funding on private jet rides and super high end accomodations for their managers, PR crews, and celebrity figure heads. Its legal even for a nonprofit but not noble or efficient by any stretch of the imagination. In general, 'celebrity' foundations are a twisted inefficient mutant of charity, self-promotion, exotic travel, and PR crap. Still, they compete for funding with more efficient legitimate charities who do more work with less money. The celebrity figure heads often disregard the primary donors, co-founders, and managers, take personal credit for any collective work done, and seek maximum publicity shortly before or after the release of their own commercial projects. Its a sham. So if its not rated, then don't support it. Instead, support a top rated charity like any of those given high ratings at Charitywatch.org.

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  2. Anonymous2/11/09

    You are wasting your time.The church reamin a church of God in Malawi and Zimbabwe. Don't you have a job and aim at destroying the image of the church? You will fail, God will punish you left to right. Shame on you the so called Anglican Information, after all who told you to use the name of Anglican.

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  3. Two interesting anonymous comments. The Madonna one is raising real concerns about the way in which she has been able to use Malawi to her advantage. here profile is very high there and if true the financial revelations from anon are very damning.

    The second anonymous has I think misunderstood what Anglican Information are doing. they always tend to support the people and the good of the Church over and against the bishops. I would have thought that far from being threatened with punishment, they deserve some praise. Without them goodness knows what the bishops would get up to and the Church there would be in a worse state still.

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  4. I agree with 'penwatch' Ang Inf are the best thing that has happened to the Central African Province for a long time.

    It's only a pity that they (thanks to the behaviour of the bishops) need to exist.

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  5. It's nice to have Anglican Information back again. I for one am always glad to be kept updated with what is happening in Central Africa and find their information very enlightening. The revelations concerning the charity 'Raising Malawi' are indeed alarming and should be put into the public arena for discussion. I hope more people read the comment by Anonymous.

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  6. Anonymous8/11/09

    I too receive Anglican Info and find it really useful.

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