In power-play of the type the Covenant encourages, global church politics will trump love, justice and even logic. This is a poor substitute for freedom in Christ.
What will the Covenant cost? Who will pay? How will it be accounted?
And apologies for the long radio silence - I hope to put up a few more pieces on the Covenant from time to time, but no promises
At no point in all the discussion of the Covenant has any budget been made public.
Of course the actual cost will depend on a whole lot of things that are completely uncertain at this point. But assumptions can be made (and probably have been made somewhere in the ACO) which will generate an indicative budget.
Central costs will rise simply because the Covenant envisages the Anglican Communion becoming more centralised. Experience suggests this will be a one-way ratchet as few matters once brought to the centre are then returned to a lower level, and the world is increasingly interconnected.
Central costs will be spread across every member Church because that is the largest source of funding for Anglicanism’s central bodies (c. 66%, 2008).
In addition each member Church will be expected to spend more internally on arrangements to liaise between it and the centre.
At the moment a disproportionate amount of revenue comes from TEC and Trinity Church Wall Street. If the provisions of the Covenant mean TEC is excluded from, or marginalised in, the Communion it is predictable that their funds will will also steadily vanish.
The most recent published accounts for the ACO (2008) show income of £1.86m and expenditure of £1.76m. Around £1.3m goes on staffing, offices and other direct costs. One person was paid in excess of £60,000. Contributions in kind (largely from North America) are noted but not valued. There are other separate charitable funds which support global Anglicanism not included in these accounts. These too receive significant income from North America.
In the end almost all the costs are be borne directly by the lay people whose giving sustains the church. Alongside the silence on costs there is no apparent mechanism for accounting for expenditure to the donors.
Possible additional costs implied by the Covenant proposals, and who would pay:
‘Normal’ times (annual background costs)
Additional costs of, say, intervention in a dispute between two members.
Additional costs of a complex major international dispute.
Speculation here becomes even less reliable. Complex multi-directional mediation would be a significant cost if thought practicable.
It is likely that those caught up in such a dispute would be reluctant to increase their giving to central funds at a point when central costs will rise; it is possible that contributions would shrink.
It is most probable that a large-scale dispute would have novel features which will demand innovative responses that are impossible to cost in advance – except that they will be expensive.
My summary:
It's going to cost more. How much more depends on a lot of things but that doesn't matter because, if we all sign up we'll have to pay anyway. So don't mention money.
That's former Archbishop Bernard Malango, close friend of Bishop Nolbert Kunonga of Harare, Zimbabwe, third from right, partly obscured with grey hair, glasses and striped stole - you can't hide from us! Photograph taken with Ugandan bishops at this year's Martyrs Memorial event.From ANGLICAN-INFORMATION: A promising start in Lake Malawi, new elections in North Malawi and an odd couple in Uganda, Bishops Bernard Malango and Chad Gandiya
Diocese of Lake Malawi: The new bishop, former Archdeacon Francis Kaulanda, is off to a promising start with declared intention of proceeding carefully and cautiously to re-establish good order and oversight. He is determined not to find himself held hostage by hostile press reports generated by disgruntled factions. In this respect he is wisely keeping a studied distance from Provincial affairs.
Bishop Kaulanda’s financial target has now increased to the sum of twenty-five million Malawi Kwacha, (£111,000 $165,000 €134,000). This is a daunting objective that will require the good will of donors whose activities and support have been prejudiced by the behaviour of Provincial bishops over the past few years. Good news is of a report of a forthcoming donors meeting in London, UK in August to reassess the situation in the diocese.
Diocese of North Malawi: Following the abortive attempt by acting Dean of the Province, Bishop Albert Chama of Northern Zambia to impose the Rev’d Leslie Mtekateka as bishop. Mtekateka’s ‘election’ was nullified due to confirmed reports of gross personal misconduct.
New elections will finally take place this weekend on Saturday 26th June. These elections will be held in the Malawian capital city of Lilongwe in the Diocese of Lake Malawi following Albert Chama’s habitual practice of holding elections outside the vacant diocese in order to reduce any objections or dissent.
Chama’s favoured candidate is Fr. Evan Kachiwanda of the Diocese of Upper Shire and currently a tutor of Leonard Kamunga Theological College. Fr. Magangani, an internal candidate priest, from North Malawi will oppose Kachiwanda.
Once this election is complete and the new bishop consecrated and enthroned all vacant sees will have been filled in the Province of Central Africa. Elections for the position of Archbishop will then take place and reports of clandestine background jockeying for position amongst the bishops means that acting Dean Chama’s position is not guaranteed as the next Archbishop.
A visit to Uganda: Bishop Chad Gandiya the beleaguered Bishop of Harare, whose ministry has been blighted by the activities of the infamous and renegade ‘Archbishop’ Nolbert Kunonga, was the guest speaker at the annual Ugandan Martyrs Memorial celebrations held on 3rd June at Namugongo village in the Wakiso District of central Uganda.
As is usual vast crowds attended this national event at which Chad Gandiya bewailed the “assertiveness of the gay movement”. This was presumably in an attempt to silence Nolbert Kunonga’s carping criticism that the Central African Province is ‘pro-gay’. The gay issue, previously rarely mentioned in Africa, has been stirred up in recent years by visiting American conservative preachers to Uganda and growing divisions in the Anglican Communion.
According to the Kampala Monitor Bishop Gandiya went on to say: “We are living in a world which is turned upside down. Some people talk about wicked things as if they are good. We need people to stand up for the truth and reject homosexuality…the confusion of right with wrong [has] destroyed the morals of the young population.”
Former Archbishop Bernard Malango fêted by unsuspecting Ugandans: Ironically, Bernard Malango, a former arch-critic of Bishop Gandiya and one time Archbishop of Central Africa, accompanied Gandiya on his trip to Uganda and was fêted as a distinguished guest at a dinner held in his honour.
We can only assume that the Ugandan hosts were unaware of Bernard Malango’s close and continuing friendship with ‘Archbishop’ Nolbert Kunonga. This was exemplified when he protected Kunonga in 2005 from prosecution despite strong evidence of Kunonga’s guilt in dozens of charges including complicity in incitement to murder. Their friendship and regular contact continues to this day.
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Windy straw!
Blowing in which direction?
From: ANGLICAN-INFORMATION
Reported in the Zimbabwean online: www.thezimbabwean.co.uk renegade Bishop Elson Jakazi has lost control of the Diocese of Manicaland. Jakazi has been a companion breakaway bishop with the notorious Nolbert Kunonga of Harare.
‘In a ruling handed down last Wednesday High Court Judge Chinembiri Bhunu said that Jakazi lost his claim to authority over diocesan property when he resigned from the Manicaland Diocese in September 2007.
“Once the first applicant’s resignation letter was received by the Archbishop of the Anglican Church of the Central Africa the first applicant automatically ceased to be an employee or member of that church organisation without any further formalities”.’
ANGLICAN-INFORMATION: Comments that this ruling will have a bearing on self-styled ‘Archbishop’ Nolbert Kunonga’s attempts to cling to millions of dollars worth of property belonging to the Harare Diocese. We have tried to contact former Archbishop Bernard Malango, the one time enthusiastic defender and sponsor of Nolbert Kunonga, for his views on this development but he was ‘unavailable for comment’.
Summing up the judgment Judge Bhuna continued, “Having ceased to be an employee of the church organization he automatically stripped himself of any rights and privileges arising from the contract of employment, membership or his status as a bishop of that church organization”. He also dismissed Jakazi’s application with costs.
Bhunu noted that Jakazi was not dismissed but voluntarily left the CPCA (Church of the Province of Central Africa). “That being the case, he can hardly be heard to complain or cry foul. Any appeal or review which he may launch means he is appealing or seeking a review of his own conduct. This is wholly untenable and illogical such that it must be incompetent at law,” the judge said.
The ruling, unless appealed, effectively puts to an end the dispute over control of the Manicaland Diocese, which Jakazi had continued to claim was under his charge despite quitting the CPCA.
Diocese of Lake Malawi: Meanwhile it is reported that the newly installed Bishop Francis Kaulanda is trying to raise six million Malawi Kwacha (£27,000 $40,000 €32,000) to make up the financial shortfall in the Diocese and help pay the clergy.
ANGLICAN-INFORMATION: Comments that a comparable sum was expended both flying and providing accommodation for acting Dean Albert Chama and his cohort, the Bishops of Eastern Zambia and Masvingo, Zimbabwe, when they attended the recent schismatic Global South Conference in Singapore, as reported by us 20th April. At the Conference Chama had the temerity to lecture on ‘The potential for economic empowerment’. His own economic empowerment for the exercise appears to have come from breakaway factions in the United States – it clearly wasn’t from the Diocese of Lake Malawi where priests have been unpaid.
Diocese of Northern Malawi: Another attempt will be made on 29th May to elect a bishop for Northern Malawi. It is not yet clear who the provincial bishops intend to be the successful candidate. Their previous choice Fr Leslie Mtekateka was dismissed for gross misconduct.
“ ... contains provisions that are punitive, controlling, and completely un-Anglican, and reflect the movement towards centralized, Curia-like control that was rejected by the Lambeth conference… over a century ago…”
He said there’d long been pressure for an instant decision.The conviction in some quarters (though without any evidence) that the Covenant is the only way to avoid schism, has resulted in unprecedented secrecy. (As far as anyone out of the loop can tell.) As a consequence there has been, in those same quarters, a desire to circumvent discussion and short-circuit the ordinary decision making processes of the Provinces and Churches. This is bad enough in itself.
At the last ACC meeting, for example, “much was said about the need for this to happen immediately: that even delay in adoption, let alone rejection of it would lead to the breakup of the Communion.
“Well,” said Dr Fitchett, “somehow the Communion seems to have survived for another year, in a way no more broken than in the previous five years…”
“Though the language used has been moderated, and has become fuzzier in successive drafts, the general thrust of Section 4.2 remains as it began: that a Communion-wide body – now the Standing Committee rather than the Primates – can discipline a Province and recommend its exclusion from Communion structures.
“It can also recommend suspension while those disciplinary processes are
being worked through.
“Further, a new Clause 4.2.8 excludes all provinces which have not adopted the Covenant from decision-making about exclusion of provinces.
“This means that in the ACC, the only constitutional Instrument of Communion, the proposed Covenant purports to over-ride the ACC’s constitutional provisions about decision making – so that only those Provinces that have adopted the proposed Covenant are involved in the decisions regarding exclusion.
“My belief is that this Clause, which has not been previously put forward for discussion, is ultra vires, as well as being completely unjust, and is enough on its own to justify rejecting the proposed Covenant.”
legal opinions will be sought on a controversial part of section 4 of the Covenant – regarding participation in the decision-making of the Communion Standing Committee (clause 4.2.8). (here)
The Rt Rev'd Francis Kaulanda new Bishop of Lake MalawiANGLICAN-INFORMATION reports: A new bishop has been consecrated and enthroned for the Diocese of Lake Malawi, Province of Central Africa. The Diocese of Lake Malawi, has been without an incumbent since 2005 when London based Dr. Nicholas Henderson was elected overwhelmingly as bishop in the July but rejected in a highly disputed and suspect Court of Confirmation in November of that year when he was declared inexplicably to be of ‘unsound faith’.
This Sunday 9th May saw the consecration of the Venerable Francis Kaulanda, formerly Archdeacon of Lilongwe. His consecration and enthronement took place at All Saints’ Cathedral, Nkhota-kota, Malawi. Principal bishop was the acting Dean of the Central African Province, the Rt Rev’d Albert Chama. Principal guest was the Speaker of the Malawian Parliament.
Chama, had delayed the ceremony in order that he could attend a ‘Global South’ Conference in Singapore and then spend some time with ‘breakaway’ Anglicans in the United States. This has set him at odds with some of his fellow bishops who are unhappy with the Province being associated with schismatic groups in the Anglican Communion.
Some of the Provincial Bishops were also absent from the ceremony on Sunday which took place in the presence of eleven bishops including an ecumenical guest Roman Catholic prelate.
The ceremony was held in the open air to accommodate the large congregation but was a curiously muted affair. Nine choirs from the various archdeaconries in Lake Malawi sang but there was an absence of traditional joyful African dancing. One observer commented ‘we seemed to be going through the motions of a consecration with only the mechanics of enthusiasm’.
Feelings remain mixed in the Diocese of Lake Malawi about the new bishop. Many still consider that the legitimacy of Francis Kaulanda’s election is questionable following the failure of the Bishops to act canonically and review the much-challenged previous Court of Confirmation.
Kaulanda himself was subject to an unprecedented number of objectors whose claims of academic falsification; name changing and accusations of financial irregularities were never addressed. A feeling remains (as in the other Malawian Dioceses of Upper Shire and North Malawi) that, despite the wishes of the priests and people, the Bishops have forced through their own candidates.
North Malawi is set for another election for a bishop to be held on Saturday 29th May. The bishops’ previous candidate, Fr Leslie Mtekateka, was struck off following accusations of gross misconduct.
ANGLICAN-INFORMATION: comments that a gulf seems to have opened up during the regime of Albert Chama between the episcopal bench and the people. It will be important for the new Bishop of Lake Malawi, Francis Kaulanda, to regain the confidence of the people and to demonstrate that he is not party to such disliked oversight.
Diocese of Harare, Zimbabwe: The sad death of Vice Chancellor Bob Stumbles robs Zimbabwe of an effective legal voice against the machinations of ‘Archbishop’ Nolbert Kunonga. Conflicting reports in the international press describe a ‘victory’ for Kunonga in the Mugabe backed Courts. On 3rd May Zimbabawe’s Supreme Court dismissed an appeal that challenged Kunonga’s legitimacy in the Diocese of Harare (on a technicality about payment of security fees) declaring that Kunonga is the rightful Bishop of Harare and that the Provincial Diocese under Bishop Chad Gandiya no longer has a right to churches or assets.
Unsurprisingly, Bishop Gandiya, who will seek again to challenge Kunonga in the courts, has disputed this interpretation. However, as a mark of the difficulties he and his people face a Zimbabwean Republic Police operational order is reported as instructing police officers “to ensure that only one church service is conducted and that to be led by the Kunonga faction” and that the police “be on standby for reaction purposes”.
ANGLICAN-INFORMATION: Comments that it would be helpful if Acting Dean Chama of the Province urgently addressed himself to the public support of his beleaguered colleague Bishop Gandiya and the people of Harare. This would be better understood by the people of the Province than jetting off to conspire to split the Anglican Communion whilst accommodated in luxurious comfort in South East Asia.
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A convocation of Primates at Singapore CathedralThe Covenant as it is currently proposed cannot solve the problem. It is not designed to solve the problem. It is futuristic.The Most Revd. David Vunagi, Primate, the Province of Melanesia, - need a good Covenant that everyone will honour.
It is still something that is evolving. We have not come to the end of it. There is a draft. It’s being studied and I believe that we need to study it thoroughly so that the last mistake will not be worse than the first. What I mean is that if you go into a Covenant and it’s not properly observed, the break that will occasion that will be the effect will be worse than the situation we are in now.The Most Revd. Ian Earnest, Primate, The Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean and Chairman of the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa
So the Covenant is an important tool that will help us to be accountable to one another and to be faithful to what God calls us to do. ... the Covenant is definitely a binding principle which helps us to see that we don’t hurt each other and that we are true to what God calls us to be.The Most Revd. Gregory James Venables, Primate, Iglesia Anglicana del Cono Sur de America (Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of America) and Chairman of the Primate’s Council of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans
Really the Covenant seems to be a way of holding together a marriage which is no longer a marriage.The Most Revd. Henri Kahwa Isingoma, Primate of the 500,000-strong Province de L’Eglise Anglicane Du Congo (The Anglican Church of the Province of Congo)
There is really only one Anglican Communion. It is the North American Churches that have gone far from the roots of our common faith. The Global South is a movement that was started to resist theological liberalism in the Anglican Communion and to uphold orthodoxy. The liberals can go their own way, but we will remain in the Anglican Communion. If they should decide to repent, we are ready to receive them back.The Most Revd. Dr Mouneer Hanna Anis, Primate of the 30,000-strong The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & The Middle East - a good idea that needs strong implmentation.
The Covenant as it is right now this is just a draft. It seems like more work
should be done on it in order to make it suitable for the Anglican Communion.
But I am sure what is more important right now is to go back to obey the
Scriptures
But the fear that some people have is even though they may sign it they may not
follow it fully but otherwise the Covenant would be the way out for the crisis
within the Anglican Communion.
The ACC's new constitution has been voted for by at least two-thirds of the members of the ACC between their meetings in Nottingham, UK in 2005 and Kingston, Jamaica, 2009.1. Deemed ProcedureIt scarcely makes the heart race. I could find no reference to it on the General Synod website.
The following Reports and papers were either agreed or noted under the House’s deemed procedure:
(iv) Anglican Consultative Council: Proposals for Constitutional and Procedural Reform
Bishop Chad GandiyaANGLICAN-INFORMATION writes that the acting Dean, Bishop Albert Chama, of the Central African Province has been away at a Global South Conference in Singapore and thereafter in the United States, all expenses paid, with those who are ‘blowing a trumpet’ to break up the Anglican Communion. At the Conference he delivered a Paper discussing ‘Economic Empowerment of the Global South’. There is a degree of irony that Bishop Chama has been away lecturing others in such a cosseted environment without a mention of the circumstances prevailing in his own Province, not least in Zimbabwe, and whilst priests in the Province go unpaid.
We publish below a letter from Bishop Chad Gandiya of Harare, Zimbabwe cataloguing the continuing problems that he struggles with against the now infamous ‘Bishop’ Nolbert Kunonga.
Bishop Gandiya asks “Who will listen to our plight?” It would be much better if Bishop Albert Chama spent some of his energies addressing this terrible situation rather than travelling around the world lecturing others.
...........................................................
From: Bishop Chad Gandiya
Police repression of the Anglican Church intensifies
Dear Friends,
Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance. Easter tide greetings to you.
We trust your Easter celebrations went well. Thank you for all your prayer
support for us. We write this letter to bring you up-to-date with what is
happening in our church.
Some of you are aware that Vice President Honourable
John Nkomo together with Honourable Ministers Sekai Holland and Gibson Sibanda
all members of the Organ for National Healing Reconciliation and Integration
were tasked by Cabinet to mediate between us (Diocese of Harare CPCA) and Dr.
Kunonga's Anglican Province of Zimbabwe. Those talks are going on.
We continue to be amazed that while these talks have begun and Cabinet's wish
and message to us to worship in peace, the very opposite is happening. Our
experience over the last two weeks is that the persecution seems to have
intensified. Police are openly telling our people to attend Dr. Kunonga's
services only and continue to prohibit them from worshipping in their churches
as per Judge President Makarawu's judgment and Justice Bhunu's judgment of the
3rd March 2010. The former allowed for sharing of church buildings for worship
until the courts give their final judgment on the matter and the latter endorsed
that judgment. Whereas in the past some of our congregations used to hold their
services outside of their church buildings, the police are driving them away
telling them that they cannot meet outside anywhere near the church buildings.
We are completely baffled by the behavior of the Zimbabwe Republic Police in
this matter. We have persistently asked why they are being used to prop up Dr.
Kunonga by actively telling people that our church properties belong to him and therefore
our members should attend his Church services only. Nobody has given us any
answers.
We continue to raise our grave concern over the police partisan
involvement in the affairs of our church, abuse of our rights and disregard of
Court Orders and Rulings.
We also continue to ask; Who will police the police?
Have they officially become a law unto themselves?
To whom can we turn for help?
Who will listen to our plight?
Last Sunday 11/04/2010
1. Police went to St. Mark's Church, Ruwa and drove our members away from
both the church and church premises. When the congregation decided to meet at
the priest's house the police prohibited them from doing so. What right do they
have to stop even this? The priest of this church received a text message from
Kunonga's priest telling him not to use the church or else "what they did at St.
Faith's Church, Budiriro will happen to them". St. Faith's Church, Budiriro is
where riot police tear-gassed our people on a Sunday morning and then followed
it up on a Thursday afternoon with tear-gassing Mother's Union members who were
worshipping away from the church in the open air. This is further proof of that
Dr. Kunonga's priests are working in cahoots with the police.
2. Our Cathedral congregation was told by the police not to meet anywhere
near the Cathedral next week or else they will face the wrath of the police.
3. At Holy Trinity Church, Ruwa acting Officer-in-Charge assistant
Inspector Ngoshi and Sergeant Major Chibaya force number 044621A drove our
congregation out telling them that they had orders to stop their service because
they were to leave the Church to Kunonga's group even though he hasn't got a
single member in that area.
4. At St. Alban's Church, Chiweshe where I had gone for a Confirmation
Service- the church doors were welded from inside and so we could not go in as
we had intended. We only managed to remove a pin on one of the hinges but could
not go in. As a result we had our service in the open air. Rev'd. Mangava,
Kunonga's resident priest/untrained teacher called the police telling them that
we had broken into the church. Police arrived just before the end of our service
only to find a pin that had been removed and nothing broken. For that, about six
people including the two priests who were with me had to go to Glendale police
station to give evidence - a process that took forever. I followed them. No
charges were brought against them but we reported the damage that was caused to
our church building by the welding of doors and other devices used to prevent us
from going in. We await a court hearing. What's amazing is the ease with which
even Dr. Kunonga's priests call the police, tell them what to do and how they
in turn easily comply.
5. A number of our congregations are using other denominations church
buildings (we are very grateful for their generosity) while some use school
buildings and others continue to meet in the open air.
Thank you for your messages of solidarity and assurances of your prayer
support. We don't lose heart in spite of all the challenges we are facing.
He is risen indeed - Halleluiah!
+Chad, Harare.
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Living it up whilst breaking up the Anglican Communion!
Primates and other leaders at the Istana with the President of Singapore during the afternoon courtesy call
1st Row, L-R: (GSPSC members) Bishop Albert Chama, Abp Mouneer Anis, Abp Peter Akinola, President Nathan, Abp John Chew, Abp Stephen Than, Abp Kolini, Abp Greg Venables 2nd Row: Bishop Anba Suriel, Bishop Johannes Seoka, Abp Eliud Wabukala, Abp Daniel Deng, Abp Nicholas Okoh, Bishop Stephen Kaziimba, Abp Valentini Mokiwa 3rd Row: Elder Fu XianWei, Abp Bernard Ntahoturi, Abp Ian Ernest, Abp Dabvid Vunagi, Mr Gu Mengfei, Bp Howard Gregory Last row: Abp Jeffrey Driver, Bp Sunil Singh, Abp Bob Duncan, Abp Henri Isingoma, Bp John Howe, Bp Richard Ellena
Photograph: Global South Anglican
ANGLICAN-INFORMATION reports: In a new circular letter dated 20th April the Diocesan Secretary of the Diocese of Lake Malawi has announced a change in date for the consecration of the Venerable Francis Kaulanda as the next Bishop of Lake Malawi. The consecration and enthronement, originally scheduled to take place on Sunday 2nd May at All Saints’ Cathedral, Nkhota-kota, has now been postponed to Sunday 9th May.
This change the letter says, ‘was done by the Province in order to accommodate as many Provincial Bishops as possible’. The real reason is related to the absence of the acting Dean of the Province and other bishops who have jetted off to an all expenses paid conference in Singapore hosted by the Global South Anglican South to South Encounter.
Albert Chama, who is now in Singapore, is accompanied by Bishops William Mchama of Eastern Zambia and Godfrey Tawonzi of Masvingo, Zimbabwe. The cost of first class flights and accommodation for the three of them amounts to the value of approximately a whole year’s pay for all the currently unpaid priests in Zimbabwe and Lake Malawi! Pictures of the bishops in all their glory fronting the magnificent St Andrew’s Cathedral in Singapore are available on our blogsites.
It is not clear where the monies have come from to support this venture but they are assumed to be from conservative and schismatic North American Anglicans? These are currently pursuing a fissiparous agenda in their battle against the American Episcopal Church and a disruptive and schismatic programme in the Anglican Communion.
Neither is it clear where Albert Chama’s authority to attend on behalf of the Central African Province has come from? By agreeing to attend the Conference in Singapore Albert Chama has allowed the Province to be counted as supportive of the schismatic movement. This has happened with neither Provincial synodical approval nor support from the other bishops.
Understandably, voices of dismay and anger are now being raised against the acting Dean for the profligate waste of money that could have been so much better spent.
Ironically, the new letter from the Diocesan Secretary of Lake Malawi once again asks donors for desperately needed money for the Diocese and gives banking details for transfers. Thanks to acting Dean Chama’s unwise junketing trip in South East Asia support and donations, which come largely from the U.K. and the U.S.A. and from the very churches which the Global South Conference has been called to condemn, are likely to be in short supply.
Whilst Albert Chama and the other bishops work on breaking up the Anglican Communion the hard-working clergy of Zimbabwe and Lake Malawi will need to go on scratching a living from their smallholdings in order to survive.
ANGLICAN-INFORMATION reports: In what is effectively a calculated snub to his fellow bishops and in particular Bishop James Tengatenga of the Diocese of Southern Malawi, the acting Dean of the Anglican Central African Province, the Rt Rev’d Albert Chama has been flown out to the Fourth Global South Encounter in Singapore.
Albert Chama is accompanied by Bishops William Mchamba of Eastern Zambia and Godfrey Tawonzvi of Masvingo, Zimbabwe. Also in the party is Fr Christopher Mwawa formerly Dean of the College of Christian Ministries, Diocese of Lake Malawi.
The latest Global South Encounter Meeting is a gathering of 130 delegates and observers who represent the schismatic grouping in the Anglican Communion that is currently supporting breakaway parishes in the United States, fostering division and challenging the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Of particular concern in the Central African Province is how potentially divisive Chama’s attendance will become amongst the bishops. The Archbishop of the Indian Ocean the Most Rev’d Ian Earnest, a principal player at the Global South Encounter Meeting, wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury on 13th April insisting that at further meetings of Anglican Primates the North Americans should specifically not be invited. This specifically catches Bishop James Tengatenga who is currently on sabbatical study leave in the United States with the Episcopal Church. Tengatenga is also the newly elected chairperson of the Anglican Consultative Council, which is one of the Instruments of the Anglican Communion, and which has also come in for severe criticism from the Global South members.
For those labouring in parish vineyards and simply getting on with the Gospel this is a complicated scenario but Albert Chama in his attendance at the meeting in Singapore is following directly in the footsteps of his mentor former Archbishop Bernard Malango. He is thereby snubbing other bishops in the Central African Province as well as the Archbishop of Canterbury. In the Central African Province those bishops who will have reason to feel aggrieved with Chama’s actions include James Tengatenga, Bishop Trevor Mwamba of Botswana and Bishop Chad Gandiya of Harare, all of who have been closely associated with the North American Churches and openly remained loyal to Canterbury. Ironically, Chama himself has been hosted by the Episcopal Church and even preached in Grace Cathedral, San Francisco.
Whilst priests go unpaid in Malawi, acting Dean Chama and the others are enjoying an all expenses paid (by whom?) trip to South East Asia, but it will come at a longer term high cost - that of the unity of the Province for which he still has at least temporary oversight.
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The Venerable Francis Kaulanda
ANGLICAN-INFORMATION: We have received the following letter of invitation to the consecration of the Venerable Francis Kaulanda, currently Archdeacon of Lilongwe, as Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Lake Malawi. The letter has been dispatched widely as an invitation and a fundraiser. We have removed the Diocesan Bank Account details for security reasons.
..........................................................
From: Kondwani.
For Diocesan Secretary
Diocese of Lake Malawi
P.O. Box 30349
Capital City
LILONGWE 3
Tel: +265 1 796 463
E-mail: anglama@eomw.net
Dear All,
I am happy to let you know that the Diocese of Lake Malawi will be consecrating the Venerable Francis Kaulanda to be the Bishop of the Diocese of Lake Malawi on 2nd May, 2010.
The function will take place at All Saints Cathedral in Nkhotakota (200km away from Lilongwe,the Capital City of Malawi). The function is expected to start at 8:30 am with the consecration and finish with the enthronement in the afternoon.
The preparations for the function are underway, thus I am requesting all who are coming to attend the function to let us know their details-numbers and names of people coming.
The diocese also offers a chance to them who would like to bless this function through their finances to do so. The support can be wired to the following diocesan Accounts:
1. Foreign Currency Denomination Account:
Bank Name : .........................
Account Name : ........................
Account Number: .......................
Branch : .............................
Swift Code : ...........................
2. Current Account
Bank Name : .........................
Account Name : ........................
Account Number: .......................
Branch : ............................
Swift Code : ...........................
The diocese truly need your prayer and support in cash and kind for her to have a colourful function. Surely, 5 years without a Bishop is not a joke thus we expect this to be such a big and a memorable function which will attract people from all walks of life.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ increase mightily upon your life as you contribute and pray for this function.
Remain a blessing,
Kondwani
............................................................
ANGLICAN INFORMATION: comments on the letter:
Good News:
Bad News:
The next stage – some suggested advice for the new bishop:
ANGLICAN-INFORMATION: wishes Francis Kaulanda and the Diocese of Lake Malawi well and will continue to update you with news both good and bad from the sadly troubled Church of the Central African Province.
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The Church of the Province of Central Africa consists of four countries:
But here’s a more depressing report form the same source: ‘A member of St Luke’s church said many Anglican parishioners were now attending Sunday service at the nearby Roman Catholic church as they were tired of the in fighting within the church.’ He goes on, “This is no longer religion. The Anglican Church is now a laughing stock of the country because of these unending fights. Kunonga and his politics must just go and leave us in peace.”
ANGLICAN-INFORMATION comments that unfortunately there is no sign of Kunonga going away as long as the Mugabe regime is still effectively in power. Former Bishop Sebastian Bakare and Bishop Chad Gandiya are left defending a very difficult situation – without, it seems these days, very much obvious support from acting Dean of the Province, Bishop Albert Chama or the other bishops.
Diocese of Lake Malawi: Albert Chama has decided to press ahead with the consecration of the Venerable Francis Kaulanda as the new Bishop of Lake Malawi on Sunday 2nd May at All Saints’ Cathedral, Nkhota-kota. Kaulanda had been opposed by an unprecedented large number of objectors but their court injunction against him has now been lifted.
People from the Diocese of Lake Malawi have communicated various sentiments to us about the bishop-elect. In Nkhota-kota both the Mothers’ Union and Fathers’ Union have staged traditional singing and dancing up to the Cathedral in welcome and affirmation. Elsewhere in the diocese the mood is more ambivalent, some welcome the chance of a new start others remain dissatisfied about what has happened since the last election.
Mixed views are hardly surprising but Kaulanda has received the backing of the former Bishop-elect, London based the Rev’d Dr. Nicholas Henderson (as reported by us in August 2009). Dr. Henderson asked the people to support Francis Kaulanda by ending their ‘long and courageous struggle for justice’ against the contrived 2005 Court of Confirmation in order to bring stability and a fresh start to the Diocese.
Fr. Kaulanda has gained a good reputation as the Archdeacon of Lilongwe and many have high hopes for him. Doubts about his legitimacy will remain as his Achilles heel throughout his reign but the ANGLICAN-INFORMATION team wish him well and advise him to remain a ‘Father in God’, resist autocratic tendencies and never to lose touch with the people, which is often the fatal mistake of ‘prince bishops’.
The Diocese of Northern Malawi: Often seen as a forced candidate Fr. Leslie Mtekateka’s Court of Confirmation (which had been held in a clandestine fashion) has been nullified because of serious challenges and objections regarding his behaviour and personal conduct. Almost certainly there will now be fresh elections for the post.
Plus ça change (plus c’est las même chose) – ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same’. We hope that our African and international readers will forgive us for lapsing into French but it is the consensus opinion of the ANGLICAN-INFORMATION team that throughout our long period of reportage regarding the Central African Province the problem has always been the same. That of autocratic episcopal oversight and, with some noble exceptions, the bishops seeing themselves as a caste apart, willing to manipulate elections, imposing their own candidates and ignoring the wishes of the people. The Central African Province has some fine priests and an increasingly powerful laity but as yet this has not produced the changes that are required to face the new century and to convince the rest of the Anglican world. Unfortunately, over the past few years, matters have got rather worse with donor apprehension, the madness of Zimbabwe and contrived episcopal elections in Malawi. The Province deserves better…
Nevertheless, despite rather than because of their episcopal overlords, faithful Christians are attending services in their thousands - over 600 Easter day communicants in one parish in Nkhota-kota alone this year.
Acting Dean Albert Chama of Northern Zambia: who now styles himself as ‘acting Archbishop’ has had oversight of the deteriorating situation for the past four years. A hasty appointee of the now discredited former Archbishop Bernard Malango, who had sacked the then Dean Bishop Trevor Mwamba for following correct procedures, he has yet fully to gain the confidence of the Province. When the time comes (when all diocesan sees are finally filled) to elect a new Archbishop very careful thought and prayer should be given as to the best candidate – for sake of Christ’s Church and people in Central Africa.
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Henry Orombi in the company of the commandments. (Church Times)His remedy is to restore power and authority to the Primates. Even their meetings, he says, have been subverted by the officers of the Anglican Communion Office as their secretariat.
He also wishes to exclude TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada from that Primates meeting.
Orombi describes TEC as 'gross violators of Biblical Truth' and states that TEC and the ACoC 'are proceeding with unbiblical practices that contradict the faith of Anglicanism.'
For Ormobi (and I think most of GAFCON) judgement day has passed: from his perspective TEC and the ACoC have already stepped outside the Christian pale, have done so of their own informed volition, and all that remains is frustration at the lack of institutional mechanisms to expel them formally. That was the view of Maurice Sinclair and Drexel Gomez in 2002.
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Well, I largely agree with Orombi's organizational analysis - though not about the Primates. The SCAC is a cuckoo in the nest. It has usurped authority already and has, inevitably, reduced the authority of all the other Instruments of Unity.
What Orombi's attitudes and (in)actions also show - as I have argued from the beginning of the Covenant process - is that creating a central executive body to govern the Communion will not resolve any dispute. It will provide new channels for campaigning, new people to be lobbied, and a new location of decision-making which those in contention across the Communion will all try to capture.
The Primates would not all share the sacraments in Das es Salaam. Why should anyone think that the members of different body would do so? Elections to membership of the SCAC - or any other such body - merely replicate pre-existing divisions and carry differences and antagonisms into a small room.
Surely, well I would have thought, surely the goal should have been to enlarge the space of Anglicanism, not to reduce it - to make more room for difference and cultural specificity and theological debate, not to try to cram volatile material into an even smaller container.
I don't know if Orombi's letter will make much difference. That (a) he should have to put this in writing, (b) he has to circulate it widely, (c) it should be made public, and (d) he describes not only the sidelining of his preferred option (Primatial power) but also his personal feelings of being sidelined - are all signs of weakness.
Under such circumstances there are normally just two options: to play a long game to get back into a position of power and influence or to pick up the ball and go find some other game.
