SACC calls for end to university protests

SOUTH AFRICAN COUNCIL OF CHURCHES CALLS FOR END TO UNIVERSITY PROTESTS

Friday October 30, 2015

The South African Council of Churches National Executive Committee at a meeting in Johannesburg last Thursday called on all university students to suspend their protracted protests and focus on crucial end of year examinations.

Archbishop Reports on E-Reader Project

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba reported at a meeting of the Compass Rose Society in London this week on progress with the E-Reader project being run from Bishopscourt.

Sermon preached in the Diocese of Lesotho

Sermon preached by Archbishop Thabo Makgoba at the consecration of the new Church of St Matthias, Peka, Lesotho:

Your Majesty, King Letsie III,
Your Cabinet ministers present, especially the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister,
Bishops present from our Province and Central Africa, as well as the Bishop of Durham and his colleagues,
Dear people of God of the Diocese of Lesotho,
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, 


What a delight it is to share with you in consecrating a new church building.

God is good!
All the time!
All the time!
God is good! 

Faith leaders' statement on student fee crisis

National church leaders and other faith leaders gathering in Johannesburg from 21-22 October 2015 at OR Tambo, for their annual meeting, issued the following statement on the student fee crisis:

Archbishop Thabo joins religious leaders to support protesting students

Archbishop Thabo issued the following statement to the Church this morning. It was also released to the media:

"I will join about 40 leaders of the National Religious Association for Social Development on a visit to Wits University, my alma mater, this morning. We are interrupting meetings in Gauteng to do so.

Religious leaders label student protests a crisis

To the Laos - To the People of God

Dear People of God

I write to you at a challenging time in the life of the leadership of our Church, in which a succession of some of our most senior bishops are retiring one after another, and dioceses across the Province have met and are due to meet to elect their successors. At the last meeting of our Provincial Standing Committee, on bidding farewell to bishops Rubin, Jo and Mark, my deep emotions overcame me and I even shed tears. The coming few months and years will indeed be a time of new leaders, new contexts, new energy and new hope.

Please pray for the Elective Assembly of the Diocese of Zululand, which will meet on December 9 to choose a successor to the Right Revd Dino Gabriel, recently elected to replace Bishop Rubin Phillip as Bishop of Natal. Pray for the consecration, God willing, of the new bishop on April 24 next year, and also for the installation in Natal on November 21. Your prayers are asked too for Bishop Jo Seoka of Pretoria, who retires on December 31, for the Elective Assembly taking place in Pretoria on February 4 and, God willing, for the consecration on May 15.

As a result of the resignation of the Right Revd Mark van Koevering as Bishop of Niassa in northern Mozambique, an election there is scheduled for January 26 and a consecration on May 29. Finally the Synod of Bishops will elect the new Bishop of Namibia at its February meeting, after an Elective Assembly referred the decision to the bishops. Please pray also for those dioceses. 

On the other hand, I am very glad to announce that South Africa's courageous Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, and our own distinguished theologian and educator, Professor Barney Pityana, have been named as the inaugural recipients of the Archbishop's Award for Peace With Justice. Advocate Madonsela was decorated at a function at Rhodes University where she spoke on values-based leadership. Prof Pityana was decorated at a special farewell service held at the chapel of the College of the Transfiguration. This is a new award established by our Church which acknowledges those within the life of the countries of Southern Africa who make outstanding contributions in their communities which reflect the values espoused in Micah, whatever faith they espouse or do not espouse and whether they are lay people or clergy. We are honoured that Advocate Madonsela and Prof Pityana have accepted the award, bringing distinction on it by doing so.

I am pleased also to share with you the decision of the Provincial Standing Committee at its recent meeting to adopt a new stewardship handbook developed by dioceses in the Western Cape. We have spoken for years, in many dioceses, of the need for a special and renewed focus on stewardship and giving, so the new material which will guide us theologically and practically is particularly welcome. 

Accompanying this letter is a presentation I made last week at what we called “A Day of Courageous Conversations” at Bishopscourt, a quite unique and ground-breaking meeting involving about 60 leaders from the mining sector, civil society and faith communities. Growing out of an initiative that began at the Vatican, then continued at Lambeth Palace, the South African meeting sought to begin a process of repositioning the sector as one that can be a partner for long-term sustainable development with host communities and governments. Mining forms a crucial part of our economy and, as the Marikana crisis and falling commodity prices demonstrate, it is in many ways under threat. Please pray for the industry and all within it, as well as for this initiative.

As I write this, I am heading off on retreat, then later in the month to a meeting in London of the Compass Rose Society – an international group of generous Anglicans who seek to support the ministry of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Anglican Communion. Then at the beginning of November I will attend the installation of Bishop Michael Curry of North Carolina as the new Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church (TEC) in the United States. We celebrate with TEC and send our greetings as they begin this new era in their life, ministry and witness. Please pray for him, for our global church and especially for our stewardship of this special gift that we have been endowed with, the Anglican Communion. When the Son of Man returns, may he find faith in it. (Luke 18:8). 

God bless you,

†Thabo Cape Town

South African Day of Courageous Conversation: An inter-faith initiative

South African Day of Courageous Conversation: An inter-faith initiative

The Most Revd Dr Thabo Makgoba,

Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town

Bishopscourt, 8 October 2015

Representatives of the faith communities here present,

Leaders of the mining sector, representing both workers and management,

Representatives of government, who were invited here,

Members of civil society,

Members of the Steering Committee:

Thank you all for being here today. I want to thank particularly those involved in the mining sector for coming, and for allowing yourselves to be vulnerable in taking these conversations forward. Why do I say that, and why are we calling this a day of courageous conversation? As many of you know, this is the South African step along a road which began at the Vatican two years ago, when the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace hosted a Day of Reflection in September 2013. It continued with an Ecumenical Day of Reflection at Lambeth Palace in London, hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the President of the British Methodist Conference, and more recently another Day of Reflection at the Vatican, which I was privileged to join.

Archbishop hosts mining industry discussions

Representatives of the South African mining sector, civil society and faith communities met at my invitation at Bishopscourt on October 9 in Cape Town to discuss the future of the industry in South Africa. 

The meeting, which we called a "Day of Courageous Conversations", was the first step in South Africa along a journey which began at the Vatican two years ago, when the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace hosted a Day of Reflection in September 2013. It continued with an Ecumenical Day of Reflection at Lambeth Palace in London, hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the President of the British Methodist Conference, and more recently another Day of Reflection at the Vatican. 

In this process, mining industry leaders are seeking to reposition the sector as one that can be a partner for long-term sustainable development with host communities and governments. A key outcome of the global-level discussions held so far has been a recognition that the dialogue needs to be replicated at a local level in regions and countries where mining is an integral part of the socio-economic fabric. 

To begin the conversations in South Africa, I agreed to host today's meeting and to invite leaders from the mining industry – including both management and labour – to join representatives from the faith communities, civil society and government for a day of conversations. 

About 60 participants were encouraged to share their perspectives and to hear those of others about what is needed to chart a different way forward for how the mining industry contributes to South Africa’s future. 

We shared a commitment to seek collaborative solutions to the problems which threaten the sustainability of mining and the communities in which mines operate. I have every hope that the process which today's discussion initiates will lead to action to develop creative new models of working constructively together.

Read the Archbishop's opening remarks at the Conversations >>