Listen carefully - and act

Savitri Hensman writing in The Guardian

As the Lambeth conference in Canterbury was drawing to a close, Michael Causer died. He was not an Anglican bishop, but an 18-year-old hairdresser, a popular lad described by his family as "definitely a 'people's person'. Our world will never be the same without him." He was the victim of a homophobic attack.

...

Meanwhile, at the Lambeth conference, the Archbishop of Canterbury appealed for a "covenant of faith" that would "promise to our fellow human beings the generosity God has shown us", and suggested "a Pastoral Forum to support minorities". But to him, those needing greater generosity and pastoral care were mainly Christians with strong objections to same-sex partnerships. While he is a humane man, his priorities seem strange. If Anglicans are to remain relevant, and a force for good, bishops need to listen more carefully to people like Michael Causer's family.

All here.

Public eyes right

Political Research Associates has launched an investigation into right-wing efforts to destabilize mainline Protestant denominations and their LGBT rights programs and policies with the hiring of Project Director Kapya John Kaoma. A news release from PRA continues:

Over the past several decades, mainline Christian denominations in the U.S. have faced relentless pressure from conservatives both inside and outside their churches to abandon the tradition of social witness. In recent years, such campaigns have seized on the issues of marriage equality and ordination of gay and lesbian clergy, embroiling many local churches and even international church bodies in the controversies. Among other effects, such campaigns have weakened the socially progressive role of mainline denominations in public life. Political Research Associates' new program will investigate the leading strategies being employed by right-wing groups to destabilize the progressive LGBT programs of mainline denominations.

From The Episcopal Cafe.

PRA have a strong track record in this area see here and here. Their strapline is 'Researching the Right for Progressive Changemakers' and describe themselves here.

Sadly so much of the Communion's troubles have been the export of the American Church's internal conflicts. That's the trouble with political hegemony, you get all the cultural trash bundled in with the deal.

Right, but not for much longer

The editorial of the latest Church of Ireland Gazette is, sadly, almost out of date.

It articulates the traditional and (insofar as anything Anglican can be) official understanding of the polity of the Anglican Communion.

In this picture government is by synod of bishops, priests and laity together, Instruments of Unity (not Communion) are consultative and advisory, the Communion itself is an afiliation of autonomous churches not a single Church.

But for the last 10 years or more in ways largely unnoticed till long after the event the Anglican Communion has moved to breach each and all of these working assumptions. Under Rowan Williams' ecclesiology it is becoming a Church (albeit shorn of those who won't play - an acceptable price of organzational change?). Its governance is legally with the provinces and yet political conditions are being created to remove governance - especially of doctrine - from provinces to international bodies. A few unelected lay people may serve as advisors but synodical government seems doomed.

Crucially the editorial calls on the General Synod of the Church of Ireland to defend itself as an autonomous province. By implication he is calling for a rejection of the Anglican Covenant when it arrives for ratification. May it be so.

The Covenant Behemoth

The Archbishop of Canterbury on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. It was his day off.

Ephraim Radner at The Anglican Communion Institute, Inc. has made some proposals on the Anglican Covenant.



(This was intended to be a critique of Radner's proposals but in fact I've just used some of what he wrote to spark off a rant of my own.)



Radner's proposals are broad brush and not so very different from those in the present Appendix of the St Andrew's Draft Covenant (official papers and responses here).



The lack of detail is a problem in two ways. First it makes any alternative seem thin and indequately thought through. Second, more seriously, the necessity to assess any proposal against the present Appendix reinforces the sense that a Covenant is inevitable - it's only a matter of agreeing the procedural details and fine-tuning the text.



It seemed evident (insofar as anything could be discerned through the fog) that the procedural Appendix was heavily criticised at the Lambeth Conference. It would also seem that the response to this criticism was to look for other mechanisms to implement the Covenant and not to question the need for a Covenant in the first place. Given the insistence of the host that support of the Covenant was a precondition for attendance at Lambeth this was perhaps no surprise.



We can expect further versions (refinements) of the Covenant to be discussed

• At the next Primates' Meeting (early 2009) - though the detailed proposal may not be made public or, if it is, only after the meeting.


• At the next ACC meeting in 2009 (which has long been part of the timetable for adopting the Covenant. A new draft will be made public just before this meeting, to judge by past practice. ACC will be expected to endorse it and to commend it to the provincial legislatures for ratification.)

Radner is right that the proposed Faith and Order group will need to be integrated with the Covenant (and perhaps the Pastoral Forum too). It is, however, foolish to recommend its composition, as Radner does, before specifying its terms of reference, authority and mode of working.

Radner's proposals come close to identifying the Faith and Order group with the Commission envisaged in the Covenant Appendix to which the ABC may refer a contested matter. This could well be in the mind of the Windsor Continuation Group but to date I've seen no details of the proposal to be able to evaluate what it is to be asked to do nor how it will act.

This raises a significant question about the relationship between the Covenant, the existing Instruments of Unity, and the proposed new bodies. The ACC has a constitution which, presumably, will either be amended to fit the Covenant or, in the case of a clash, the rules of the constitution will take precedence. Conversely the Covenant presumes the existence of cetain bodies - the Primates' meeting, the Lambeth Conference and the ACC - but claims no authority over them. Those bodies could make decisions about their own membership, structures, supporting bodies and procedures which could conceivably disrupt the working of the Covenant.



This may seem unlikely but certain changes are not improbable. The creation of new provinces, for example, and the insistence that each province had its Primate could skew the balance of power in the Primates' Meetings (and England could already claim two members). At the moment (I think) the ACC and the ABC together control such things but this may not last, or be politically feasible, if the role of the ACC is reduced and that of the Covenant enhanced.



As a second example, the membership of the Anglican Communion is determined by the ACC and the ABC together. Members are those bodies (not all of which are provinces) which are in communion with the ABC. In the future members of the Communion will be those bodies which are signatory to the Covenant. Will this be by vote of the existing Covenant members? Or by the vote of the ACC and possible veto of the ABC as at present?



The creation of new bodies - the Faith and Order Commission and the Pastoral Forum - is another matter. Presumably they will be constructed with a view to cohering (legally and procedurally) with the Covenant mechanisms from the beginning. This will only add to the pressure to integrate (and subordinate) the existing Instruments of Unity to the Covenant structures.



One way and another - and the continued pressure to create a common canon law for the whole Communion is a central part of this - the Covenant will slowly generate a constitution for the whole Communion. And the genesis of this programme will shape its growth and final shape. The whole process is being created by an elite within the Communion to solve a conflict between the elite in the communion. The result will inevitably be top-down and authoritarian, it will take powers from the provinces (because there is nowhere else to take them from) and pass them to new central bodies controlled by a few men supported by small executive groups, powers will be granted to central bodies in legal documents and consequent government will, I predict, be legalistic in tone.



Whether this is good thing I leave you to judge. I don't think it is.

Zimbabwe's economy

Gideon Gono, a way with money

Has Gono’s new money run out already?

The newly re-introduced old coins caused a wave of delight last week as everyone dug around, gathering up all their ‘old money’ from the bottom of tins that had been sitting in the cupboard for years, purses and wallets that had become archaic, and from the taps that they were placed in as a cheap alternative to washers.

The old money, previously discarded, had now become valuable. A friend told me that her family laughed at her for keeping a shoebox of these old coins under her wardrobe, but those same coins, re-introduced and re-valued, now amounted to over 10 times her normal monthly wage, and a ‘gazillion‘ times more than their original intended face value.It seemed incredible that Gono would be unconcerned about all the money already on the market from previous years, but he was. Shake off the dust, and go shopping!!!

And that’s exactly what happened.

On Friday 1 August there was a frenzy of spending on the few items that were available in the shops and the already sparse shelves were soon stripped. In the morning, bread cost $150,000,000,000-00 ($15.00 revalued) but by mid-day the price had increased to $280,000,000,000-00 ($28.00 revalued). Transport costs doubled from $50 billion to $100 billion overnight.

Gono’s latest financial decision was like putting a stick of dynamite under inflation. Prices have once again rocketed.

All here.

Church and State in Nigeria

Christian-Muslim relations in Nigeria have been fraught, and sporadically violent, for decades. The north is predominantly Muslim and the south Christian but, of course, the proportions vary and there are large minorities of one or the other religion in all states.



Since 2000 12 states (out of 36) have adopted Sharia Law and Sharia courts operate in much of the rest of the country. This has been a source of displeasure and anxiety to Christian groups.

The Nigeria Inter Religious Council (NIREC) is was set up after the end of military rule:

[NIREC] organises conferences designed to promote understanding, appreciation of one another and the generation of mutual respect between Christians and Muslims. It is made up of 50 members, 25 from the Christian side and the balance from the side of Muslims. The organisation is co-chaired by two eminent Nigerians: the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Muhammad Sa'ad Abubakar, CFR, and the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja and President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Dr. John Onaiyekan, CON. (Daily Trust, Abuja)

A recent meeting (June 2008) concluded

"Peace is a process of ensuring and sustaining justice, fairness and equity in the society." It suggested a peace advancement mechanism by calling on governments at all levels, civil society groups and all Nigerians, "particularly the faith-based organisations to build a systematic platform for peace and religious harmony in Nigeria through the promotion of socio-economic justice, transparency and good governance."

It listed corruption, poverty, insecurity, access to basic amenities, collapse of infrastructure, maternal and child mortality and morbidity, food insecurity, HIV/AIDS and blamed "feelings of marginalisation, disregard for the rule of law, poverty, injustice and inequity" as triggers of conflicts. It acknowledged that some "reckless" religious leaders could inflame conflict but asserted that both religions taught peace and the accommodation of diversity.



So far, so good.



However last week the leaders of NIREC visited Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola. After this visit the headlines were about homosexuality. Governor Fashola

charged all religious leaders to rise up and prevent the spread of homosexuality as no law in the country has yet legalised the practice. ... [He] added that homosexuality represents a very disturbing trend globally which should be of concern to Nigerians as a people. (here & here)

Other matters were addressed, and NIREC was praised for reducing the incidence of religious riots. But at the end of the week NIREC leaders issued a communique which

... observed that the increasing rate of homosexuality, lesbianism and incest was disappointing to the image of the country.
"Such practice is illegal and repugnant to the norms of religion, tradition and culture", they stated.
They said that determined efforts should be made by government and religious bodies to check the problems in order to protect the moral well-being of the citizens. (here)

State and religious bodies share an antipathy towards homosexuality that serves both well - it is a route away from inter-communal violence to peace based on the presumption of violence against a common enemy, a weak and marginalised group with no power to fight back.

At the same time there is a widespread presumption that religious and state bodies are intertwined, that state law is subject to divine law, and those elected to high office may say publicly that God has put them there.

Nigeria is a very religious country where neither Christianity nor Islam is dominant. It is country with considerable poverty, corruption and internal problems. It is a recipe for violence that is religion-feulled and religion-channelled.





Friday Mosque, Zaria, Nigeria

Welcome

Welcome to Not the same stream.

This blog begins as a development from Only Connect (the blog of MCU, the Modern Churchpeople's Union) - though I hope it will soon grow its own style and directions.

In particular I hope to continue:

• Posting material from Anglican Information as it arrives and picking up what's happening in the Province of Central Africa.
• Arguing against the foolishness and wrongheadedness of attempting to centralise the Anglican Communion and control how people believe.
• And some MCU material will probably appear on both.

In addition I'd like to explore:

• How do we build a church that is inclusive in practice?
• What the internet (etc.) does to faith and churches
• What does the whole idea of 'emergent' churches or 'fresh expressions' do to the existing power structures of churches?
• Constructivist approaches to ecclesiology

What I would very much like to do is to invite people (especially those who comment regularly on Only Connect) to contribute directly to this blog - both as commentators and as authors - and in that way to broaden the range of issues and the range of perspectives.

And I've turned comment moderation off, just to see how it goes. Welcome to Not the same stream.

SPCK - new site

This is the new site for news about SPCK.

Not what I think, what I say

The article below is a response to Rowan Williams: gay relationships 'comparable to marriage' in the Times (by You Know Who again). (I posted 'Lambeth post-mortem continues' direct from Google Reader as an experiment - won't do that again often, no flexibility.)

This is old news reheated. It does say, though this is buried, that Rowan Williams has consistently asserted that his own views are not important, what is important is the official view of the church that he represents.

Of course this demands a lot of sustained dissonance and careful mental compartmentalisation but it is nonetheless an honourable position. It reflects his catholic understanding of the church as primary and his rejection of the liberal emphasis on the individual (an emphasis or, perhaps, an understanding of 'individual' which I also find suspect). The cost, of course, has been to trap Williams in the official documentation (perhaps this contributes to the way in which so much authority has been attributed to the Windsor Process, far beyond its formal status).

All that said, it won't help unity to have his personal views spread over the world's media.

Lambeth post-mortem continues

Lambeth post-mortem continues

via Walking With Integrity by SUSAN RUSSELL on 8/7/08

The latest from the Timesonline ...


Dr Williams has made a split inevitable in the Anglican Church


... includes these quotes:



The Rev Susan Russell, of the US gay lobby group Integrity, said that Dr Williams was seeking a false unity based in dishonesty. The latest revelations would encourage liberals in North America to press on with their agenda and protect them against charges of apostasy, she said."That Archbishop Rowan Williams's theology is identical to that held by Canadian and American Anglican Churches currently blessing same-sex unions is not news," Ms Russell said.


"What should be news is the rank hypocrisy of Williams's willingness to lay at the feet of Canadian and American Anglicans the blame for divisions in the communion when the only difference between what's happening in our Churches and in his is that we're telling the truth about it."


The Rev Giles Fraser, Vicar of St Mary's in Putney, southwest London, which played host to the gay US bishop Gene Robinson on his recent visit to London, said: "I know Dr Williams thinks the Church is important. But this is almost saying the Church is more important than belief. We had a Reformation to change that view."


====


Just for the record, here's the whole comment I sent to the Times this morning per their request (I kinda liked the wise man built his house upon the rock part they didn't use!):


+Williams' affirmation that a theology supporting the holiness of gay and lesbian partnerships is not only viable but shared by the Archbishop of Canterbury will be received as encouragement by those who continue to press on toward full inclusion. It should give rest, once and for all, to the fiction that our perspective lies outside of the bounds of historic Anglicanism and end the charges of apostasy and heresy from those who disagree with us on the full inclusion of gay and lesbian Anglicans in the work and witness of the church.

The sacrifice that will hold the Anglican Communion together is not the sacrifice of the gay and lesbian baptized but the sacrifice of a false unity based in dishonesty. That +Rowan Williams' theology is identical to that held by Canadian and American Anglican churches currently blessing same sex unions is not news. What should be news is the rank hypocrisy of Williams' willingness to lay at the feet of Canadian and American Anglicans the blame for divisions in the Communion when the only difference between what's happening in our churches and in his is that we're telling the truth about it.

Scripture tells us what happened to the foolish man who built his house upon the sand. It's time for the Archbishop of Canterbury to act like the wise man he is and build the future of the Anglican Communion on the solid rock of honest differences reflected in the Lambeth Indaba Report and not on the shifting sands of global Anglican politics. Jesus promised us that "the truth will set you free." The Communion deserves nothing less than the truth -- and so does the Gospel.
.

Listening to the other side

Over at Only Connect there is a letter by MCU members Rev Gillian Cooke and Dr Alan Sheard pointing out the poverty of 'listening' to homosexuals and the failure to 'take seriously both the teaching of Scripture and the results of scientific and medical research'. Don't blame the liberals, they say, when no side has taken the Lambeth resolutions seriously.

On the 5th Peter Ould, from a firmly conservative position, wrote a careful and sensitive piece which accepted some of these criticisms and called on conservatives to listen much more seriously.

He also, 'bravely' one of his commentators said, called for conservatives to endorse the proposed moratorium on cross-border incursions. It is this that most of the comments refer to. Both his article and the comments are well worth reading and taking seriously: they are a snap shot of the (almost) inevitability of division - not least the arguments that, first, too may people have gone through too much for too long top stop now and, second, what if they did - would the court cases stop or anyone change their minds?

Time lines and responsibility

Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini, Primate of Rwanda

It is useful to be reminded that the present row did not begin with the authorisation of services of blessing of the union of homosexual couples in 2002 in New Brunswick, nor with the consecration of Gene Robinson in 2003 as Bishop of New Hampshire.



Sexuality (the role of women in the church, women's ordination and consecration, birth control, divorce and remarriage, as well as homosexuality) has been a subject of conflict throughout the whole of the last century. Conflict over the use and application of Scripture took its present form with the development of critical methods from the 1840s. Both battle grounds are as old as the church and endemic to it.



One timeline of events in the divisions in the US is here, written from a conservative perspective. However it omits to mention the dates of the first intrusions into US Anglican jurisdiction from other Anglican provinces. This is from the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA) site:

In 2000, Archbishops Emmanuel Kolini ( Province of Rwanda) and Moses Tay (Province of South East Asia) consecrated the Rev. Chuck Murphy and the Rev. Dr. John Rodgers as missionary bishops to the U.S. At a gathering in Amsterdam on July 28 of the same year, the Anglican Mission in America was formalized as a missionary outreach charged with fulfilling the Great Commission through church planting. Four additional bishops were consecrated in Denver in 2001 by Archbishop Kolini and Archbishop Yong Ping Chung (Archbishop Tay’s successor who served as archbishop until his retirement in February 2006).

These things are important. Events - and how we forget or continually reiterate certain events - are key elements in telling the story of Anglicanism, shaping its present by the way we reshape the past.

The telling of history helps in the attribution of blame in order to make them look bad and us look good. It helps to shift responsibility for our actions on to the uncomplaining shoulders of the past. It also traps us into certain courses of action. We understand our own faith in the terms we have inherited and embody it by aligning ourselves with particular strands in history. By that identification we preclude certain possible choices and are predisposed to others. Inevitably.

I wish to assert and argue that we are all responsible for our own actions and share responsibility for the actions of those groups with which we align ourselves whether or not we have any control over them. It doesn't seem much, put like that, but in my experience accepting responsibility can be rare in the church (as in wider society). (A plea for greater social responsibility - in a slightly different meaning of the word - in church, academia and media is here.)

It is also important, I think, for the interpretation of events and the telling of our story to remember that no-one acted first. Every step has its predecessors: the choices that we make are based on what we know, or believe we know, about the past. On the other hand we are judged by what follows.

Thanks to Get Religion, and this story in particular, for the links.

Torture in Zimbabwe

Channel Four News will broadcast a film about the Zanu-PF torture camps this evening at 7pm. they say:

We have footage from inside one of the camps used by Zanu-PF militia to terrorise MDC people. It graphically shows how gangs of men, egged on by women present, beat and taunt those they have captured. Our guide boasts of how his thugs torture and mutilate their opponents. It is very strong stuff and they claim to have more than 100 such camps around Zimbabwe.
Clearly some of them want to publicise this to scare the MDC, hence the invitation to film. But the MDC seem as determined to continue the negotiations for a political settlement as they were last week when we spoke to their leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Those talks are ongoing and reports suggest they are making progress.

Despite the talks MDC members are still being held. The MDC is turning to the courts to seek their release and to get the camps closed.

As I look I find more. This is a brief summary of one pattern of torture from this blog.

The stories about the torture this young man inflicted on innocent people sends shivers up my spine. Stories like taping cardboard tape over a man’s mouth, blocking his ears and then electrocuting his testicles resulting in him bleeding wherever he’s able to bleed. Then dumping the man’s (still alive) body into a coffin and filling it with cement (whilst he remains unconscious) and then dumping it over a boat into the beautiful Lake Kariba. One can only imagine him waking up and then being engulfed in water whilst unable to do absolutely anything. I haven’t any faith in humanity when I hear stories like this

This photo of Samuel Khumalo, a Bulawayo ward councillor for the Zimbabwean Congress of Trade Unions, who was assaulted by police during a protest, is from the same source.

Zimbabwe currency

Paying for a meal in Zimbabwe cost Z$6 million before revaluation

Is this a key reason there are talks between Mugabe and MDC?

A friend went to the bank today to withdraw money $200. He got paid out in 50c coins because the bank had no paper money to give him. So I decided to weigh them, that is 2kg of coins.

Store tellers in Zimbabwe are going mad as they cannot cope with the number of coins they are having to process. To buy a packet of milk, a loaf of bread, a few tomatoes and a dozen eggs is around $124 revalued currency or $1 240 000 000 000 old money.

Now you have to work it out in 50c coins, the most common available currency at the moment. That comes to 248 x 50c coins!

all here

And see this blog from 'Helen' on the Channel Four website.

More on the death of Bernard Mlota and imprisonment of Leonard Mondoma

From Anglican Information

Death of Bernard Mlota and imprisonment of Leonard Mondoma, Nkhota-kota, Malawi. The continuing story of two innocent men falsely accused by the UK Press of the so-called ‘poisoning’ of the late Canon Rodney Hunter.

ANGLICAN INFORMATION has recently released three postings 30th, 31st July and 1st August, available on our website, cataloguing in detail the grave injustice done to two men who were accused by the Press (See The U.K. Times 26th April ‘Enemy of Liberal Anglicans was poisoned’) of murdering the late Canon Rodney Hunter, without evidence.

This story, relatives claim, contributed towards the death of Mlota (churchwarden of All Saints’ Cathedral, Nkhota-kota) and the traumatisation of Mondoma who was Canon Hunter’s loyal cook.

Copied below is a letter we have received from one of Leonard Mondoma’s relatives:

I am a cousin to the father of Mondoma and am one of the few relatives who used to visit Leonard Mondoma in the prison. I must say that I am very thankful to Anglican Information, Amnesty International and all individuals who have played a very big role in the freedom Leonard is enjoying now after being freed on bail. Leonard continues to report to Nkhota-Kota police station every month end accompanied by his father. This far much better but this is not the freedom he wants as a normal person.

It is sad sad to note that despite Leonard’s loyalty to late Rev. Hunter, some ill-minded people could think let alone tell the world that Leonard
was responsible for the 'the murder' without having any substance of the truth. The first question that I have is 'which biblical teaching are the following?' and what were they expecting as a benefit for their actions?

What these people here in Nkhota-Kota (a reference to suspended priest Dennis Kayamba on whose word alone the men were imprisoned) and the negative minded writer in UK must know is that what they have done to our member of family has not gone well with the family. We think there is need for justice here. Those who have claimed verbally or through the papers and those that support those actions before, during or after Leonard's arrest should substanciate their claims because we are talking about someone’s life which is as dear as their own.

The family would like to ask individuals or organisations who are in a position to follow up on the events so that those who perpetuated the story so that Leonard's name is cleared and he starts to live a normal life.

Once again, thank you Anglican Information. It is my hope that you continue to help the world and those in need of your assistance in terms of telling the world the truth without fear and favour.

Thank you and God bless.

Mc Donald Kapatuka 5th August 2008

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION notes that unsurprisingly these revelations have generated a great deal of interest and we are pleased to stand up on behalf of these innocent victims as a ‘voice for the voiceless’.

back to business for the Anglican Central African Provincial Bishops

The bishops of the central African province assembled at Lambeth

After the Lambeth Conference



ANGLICAN INFORMATION observes that the Central African Bishops* did not boycott the Lambeth Conference as they might have being technically part of the Global South alliance that has taken a hard line on the current crises in the Anglican Communion. They chose sensibly to attend Lambeth in a spirit of dialogue and concern for the unity of the Communion and in support of Archbishop Rowan Williams whose heroic efforts to avert schism seem to be paying dividends.

The Bishops from Central Africa did not, of course, include the excommunicated Nolbert Kungonga of Harare, Zimbabwe who is now claiming support from the GAFCON group most of whom stayed away from Lambeth.

Bishop Trevor Mwamaba of Botswana, formerly Dean of the Province, until arbitrarily sacked by former Archbishop Bernard Malango, has had a good Lambeth. He began in the pre–Lambeth week by delivering a keynote lecture to the annual Conference of the Modern Churchpeople’s Union in Hertfordshire, U.K. Chaired by the Archbishop of Wales this annual major academic gathering also featured several other distinguished speakers, including the former Presiding Bishop of the American Episcopal Church.

Mwamba’s lecture entitled ‘A Holy Mess and the Grace of Ambiguity’ is available online on the MCU website at www.modchurchunion.org. In a wide ranging erudite address he covered a sweep of Church history speaking of schisms and difficulties through the ages and tellingly quoting the third century Church Father and African bishop of Carthage, St Cyprian: ‘It but remains that each of us should in regard to this same matter, bring forward his opinion, judging no one, nor depriving anyone of the right of communion if he should think differently’.

Mwamba is an absolutely orthodox bishop but he is unwilling to allow that Anglicans should be divided amongst themselves. Nor is he willing that the current controversies about sexuality should cause Africans to divert their attention from the real issues of the day such as HIV/Aids, poverty, corruption and hunger.

Mwamba is quoted favourably by a number of international news agencies he said of the Lambeth Conference: ‘The Conference has been excellent I would even say it has been divinely inspired. There was a growing sense of oneness, a sense that we all have a lot in common. We have been transformed by the relationships we have formed’. Mwamba a favourite candidate: The press are describing Trevor Mwamba as a favourite for the position of next Archbishop of Central Africa, a position which remains vacant until all the currently empty sees are filled.

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION reports that Bishop Mwamba is highly respected by priests and people in the Province, not least in Malawi. Whilst he was Dean, he was on the point of achieving resolution of the longstanding impasse over the Diocese of Lake Malawi case by instigating an independent Provincial Court to investigate the unfortunate Court of Confirmation that failed to endorse the election of the new bishop, on the grounds of being a former member of the Modern Churchpeople’s Union. The then Archbishop Bernard Malango squashed this initiative – hence the continuing lack of resolution.

Mwamba is a relatively young man and future consideration of an Archbishop of Canterbury chosen from the wider Anglican Communion, as is likely within the next ten years, means that he must also be an emerging long-term candidate for the top position in the Communion. He is a bishop who is able to bridge the gap between the West and Africa and indispensable requirement in today’s Anglican Church.

* There is a photograph of the bishops of the Central African Province on our website taken at the recent Lambeth Conference, with thanks to the Diocese of South Malawi website. [Above]

===================

Meanwhile back in Zimbabwe or more precisely South Africa: The International Herald Tribune reports the unexpected but welcome news that power sharing talks in Johannesburg between Zimbabwe’s rival parties which last week broke down, seem now to have picked up again.

Both sides also seem willing to extend any deadline for agreement. With the summit of the Southern African Development Community due to start in South Africa on 16th August, the Botswana government has said it will not recognize Robert Mugabe as head of state if he attends.
Nolbert Kunonga of Harare: We can only hope and pray that a resolution to Zimbabwe does emerge. It is essential for the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe, not least because as today’s Zimbabwe Daily News reports with a headline “Zanu –PF Bishop Kunonga at it again” the disruption of a funeral at St Mary’s Churchyard, Chitungwiza, 20 kms north east of Harare. Kunonga apparently directed the violent disruption by mobile ‘phone as group of his supporters vowed that the mourners (loyal to Bishop Sebastian Bakare) would never be able to conduct the funeral.

Intriguingly, the article claims that the Kunonga faction are now affiliated to the Anglican Province of Kenya – ANGLICAN-INFORMATION as yet have been unable to gain affirmation of this extraordinary claim.

Crimes against children

Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga opening a new parish Mapeera-Nabulagala in Kampala

Coincidentally I then came across this report from the New Vision (Kampala)

The [Roman Catholic] Archbishop of Kampala, Dr. Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, has condemned the atrocities committed against children.

He singled out defilement, forced prostitution and child-sacrifice as the most worrying crimes, which he said had endangered children and lowered human dignity.
"Child sexual abuse, which unfortunately on occasion involves parents, relatives and teachers, has become very common. Some of our children are abducted and forced to become soldiers or wives of those that abduct them.

"These have increased the vulnerability of our children, traumatised them and left indelible scars on their minds," Lwanga said.

(The GoogleAds listing beside it says "Child abuse claim Find an accredited lawyer specialising in child abuse".)

The catholic Church has been taking positive steps:

The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education, Francis Xavier Lubanga,
commended the Catholic Church for putting in place initiatives like the
Bannakizito association, which help children learn human values.

The minister of education, Geraldine Namirembe Bitamazire, commended the Church for supporting the educational initiatives of the Government through the development of spiritual and moral values.

A safer Communion?

I'd missed, in all the reporting of the Lambeth Conference, an account of a session on the protection of children and other vulnerable people.

It followed an earlier conference focused on these issues (here).

“There is no doubt that the Church can do better,” said Garth Blake, a senior Sydney barrister and Chair of the Professional Standards Commission of the Anglican Church of Australia. “There is a need common to all of us around the world – and not just in the First World either – to get beyond ‘risk management’, and recognise the care of the vulnerable as being a core element of the Gospel we proclaim and live.

...
Dr Higgins stressed that in the past Christians and the Church led the way in securing the welfare of children and other groups within society: “The agenda now has to honour the primacy of the welfare of children in particular and the vulnerable in general. It has to facilitate giving a voice to victims, delivering justice wherever possible, and appropriately restraining abusers. In all this the demand is that it must act with competence and integrity alongside others who affirm the welfare imperative for the young and vulnerable.”

The Australian church has ltaken the lead and with good reason. Following child abuse scandals they set up not merely good systems (I think the systems in the UK are generally good) but also a process of reflection about the allocation and use of power in the church - seeing child abuse primarily in the context of the abuse of power (though I can't now find that report).

High time these issues were seen as core to the church and not as merely the peripheral - the managing of each episode as a legal and public relations problem. I know that's not how practitioners see things; I'm not so convinced that all archdeacons and bishops have got the same message.

Power, and I'm not sorry for the stuck record, patterns the way we relate to people, structures the church formally and through personal relationships, and is scarcely discussed in polite circles. Yet, in my opinion, the abuse of children is sympomatic of structures of power in which abuse generally is not uncommon. I accept that those who want to abuse children will always do so - I don't accept that the church should be so complacent about its background ways of doing things that makes it easy for abusers to be camouflaged.

It is surely not impossible to have a church in which bullying is intolerable. Why then is it so difficult?

Not the same stream on google

Not the same stream is already visible on google. I'm impressed since it only started last Saturday.

And, just in case you'd like to know, there were 26 people recorded as visiting on Saturday, 32 and 35 the next two days - 46 different people.

And you're all most welcome.

The alternative

The Most Rev Dr Mouneer H. Anis, bishop of Egypt

looking a little windswept

From Global South Anglican





The alternative programme by those who would stay in the Anglican Communion (mostly) and remain allied with the Focas.

1. We urge the official endorsement of the proposed Anglican Covenant by ACC 14 in May 2009 [i.e. without waiting for all the Provinces, in particular the US, to follow their constitutional proceeses.]


2. to give clear endorsement and immediate implementation of the interim proposals of the Windsor Continuation Group on the swift formation of the Pastoral Forum with the terms of reference as set out: in particular, “the Pastoral Forum should be empowered to act in the Anglican Communion in a rapid manner to emerging threats to its life, especially through the ministry of its Chair, who should work alongside the Archbishop of Canterbury in the exercise of his ministry. The Forum would be responsible for addressing those anomalies of pastoral care arising in the Communion against the recommendations of the Windsor Report. It could also offer guidance on what response and any diminished standing within the Communion might be appropriate where any of the three moratoria are broken.”


3. resolving the present crisis over faith and order. ... should be effected only on the agreed consensus of communion and moral commitments made in resolutions of successive meetings which provide the proper framework and basis towards addressing and resolving the crisis:the Lambeth 1998 Resolution I.10; the respective Communiqués of the Primates’ Meetings of 2003, Dromantine 2005, and most explicitly Dar-es-Salaam 2007: in particular, on the complete cessation of (a) the celebration of blessings for same-sex unions, (b) consecrations of those living in openly gay relationships, and (c) all cross border interventions and inter-provincial claims of jurisdiction, as the Windsor Continuation Group rightly observed. [This latter point would seem to be the only significant difference to the Foca agenda.]


4. [to endorse the theology] detailed in the “Global South Anglican Theological Formation and Education Task Force Anglican Catechism in Outline: A Common Home Between Us”


5. the Global South Primates’ Steering Committee at its meeting in March 2008 has agreed to consult one another after GAFCON (June 2008) and Lambeth (July 2008) on how to move the global Anglican Communion substantially and effectively forward. [emphasis added]

Signed


The Most Revd Gerald James (Ian) Ernest (Indian Ocean)


The Most Revd Bernard Ntahoturi (Burundi)


The Most Revd Dr. Dirokpa Balufuga Fidèle (Congo)


The Most Revd Archbishop John Chew (Southeast Asia)


The Most Revd Stephen Than Myint Oo (Myanmar)


The Most Revd Valentino Mokiwa (Tanzania)


The Most Revd Daniel Deng Bul Yak (Sudan)


The Most Revd Dr Mouneer Hanna Anis (Jerusalem & The Middle East)


The Most Revd Justice Ofei Akrofi (West Africa)


The Most Revd John Wilson Gladstone (South India)


The Rt Revd Donald Mtetemela (Tanzania)


and other names may be added