Archbishop Thabo responds to President Zuma's clarification

Archbishop Thabo was asked by The New Age newspaper to comment on President Jacob Zuma's December 27 statement (reproduced below) concerning his remarks early in December on religious leaders commenting on political issues.

The text of the newspapers questions and Archbishop Thabo's answers follow:

Do you find it strange that the Church which was not silent during apartheid is expected to keep quiet now?

I am happy with the welcome the Presidency's clarification that he didn't mean we should not address political issues.

[Video & Audio] Archbishop Thabo's Christmas sermon

Watch and hear news reports and the full sermon preached by Archbishop Thabo Makgoba at Midnight Mass in St George's Cathedral, Cape Town, at Christmas 2016.

You can also read the full text of the sermon.

SABC News - December 25, 2016



eNCA News - December 25, 2016



News report on SAfm's AM Live, December 26



The full recording:

Sermon for Midnight Mass at St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town, Christmas 2016

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba

Lessons: Isaiah 62:6-12, Ps 97,Ttitus 3:4-7, Luke 2:8-20

Welcome to each and every one of you: I am glad you are all here, on this most holy night! 

The Archbishop's Lenten Course - 2017

REFLECTING, PRAYING AND ACTING TOGETHER, a series of Bible studies for Lent commissioned by Archbishop Thabo Makgoba is now available online for downloading and printing by parishes and Dioceses.

The course comprises daily readings and six weekly teachings centred on weekly themes for personal and/or communal prayer and meditation. Excerpts from the Archbishop's preface:

...[T]his is an invitation to all of us as members of ACSA, to our friends, whether people of faith or of none, and especially to our ecumenical friends, to reflect prayerfully not only on our vison and mission statement (“Anglicans ACT”), but on God’s vision for the world. In these Bible teachings we are given an opportunity to put flesh on what I would call the eternal ideals enshrined in the Bible or in our dogma. In other words, it is an invitation to us collectively to get into the mind and heart of the incarnate Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, and to see how we as his followers can make him real by understanding his ways...

In these teachings, examples of society's failings such as inequality, corruption, unemployment, poverty and environmental degradation are highlighted. We rightly start with daily readings, for as Anglicans we need to begin with Scripture in order to apply our hearts and minds to our daily challenges, to read the mind of Christ in our readings and then to be deepened in our journey...

As I offer these Lenten studies to all of you, I hope you will be as excited as I am with this journey of Reflecting, Praying and Acting Together. I am grateful to the team of people who have prayed, reflected and acted on the challenge that I placed before them to help me construct these Bible studies and to those who have ably read and edited them.

Click here to download a PDF file (34 pages)

PDF file updated to version 7 on December 20, 2016.

[AUDIO] Archbishop Thabo reflects on Advent IV

In his last reflection for Advent, Archbishop Thabo looks at the readings for the Fourth Sunday in Advent, in particular the Gospel reading, Matthew 1:18-25 and part of Psalm 80.

[Audio] Archbishop Thabo reflects on Advent III

Archbishop Thabo reflects on the Third Sunday in Advent. The Gospel reading for today: Matthew 11:2-11.

[Audio] Archbishop Thabo reflects on Advent II

Archbishop Thabo reflects on the Second Sunday in Advent. His reflection is prompted by the Gospel reading for the day, on John the Baptist: Matthew 3:1-12.

To the Laos - To the People of God – Advent 2016

Dear People of God

As I was completing this letter, news came in from Bishop Manuel Ernesto of the Diocese of Niassa that 60 people were reported killed, more than 100 injured and many are still missing after a fuel tanker travelling from Beira to southern Malawi exploded while on a road in the community of Cafrisange in the central province of Tete. Bishop Manuel asks us all to pray for Archdeacon Martins Nselela and his team in Tete as they minister to the families affected.

[Audio] Archbishop Thabo reflects on Advent I

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba this Advent continues the tradition he has established of recording a series of reflections for each Sunday until Christmas. Encourage your friends and fellow parishioners to listen online or download and listen on their mobile devices.

Christ Church, Kenilworth

Sermon preached by Archbishop Thabo Makgoba at a Confirmation Service of St John's Parish, Wynberg, Cape Town:

2 Thessalonians 3: 6-13, Luke 21:5-19

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

It is good to be with you today. Thank you, the Revd Rob Taylor and your Churchwardens, for inviting me to be here.  Thank you everyone for your warm welcome.

Archbishop Thabo's lament for South Africa

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba led a prayer vigil on the steps of St George's Cathedral in Cape Town on Wednesday November 2. He ended the silent vigil, held under the theme "A lament for our beloved country”, with this prayer.

Let us pray:

Lord, where are you in these trying and challenging times and amidst these great developments in our country?

Shakespeare said: “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.”

Lord, we are living through a time of acute misery, amidst an unprecedented political crisis.

Lord, we know though that South Africa is not broken;

Sermon at the 150th Anniversary Service of the Cathedral of St Andrew and St Michael, Bloemfontein

Theme: Standing in the watchpost and stationed at the ramparts

Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4 Psalm 119:137-144 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12 Luke 19:1-10

In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who calls us to be faithful. Amen

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, dear people of God in the Cathedral of St Andrew and St Michael:

It is a great joy to be here for this great milestone as you celebrate your 150th anniversary. It is an honour and a privilege to have been asked to share the Word of God with you in this historic place. And what a history you have! I learn that your first foundation stone was laid during the earliest days of the Free State, when you were part of the Orange River Sovereignty, and that the Cathedral was built during the time of the Orange Free State Republic. Your forebears then lived through the years of the Orange River Colony, then in one of the four provinces within the united South Africa, and finally now you are one of nine provinces of the new South Africa.

The Anglican Church of Southern Africa's debate on human sexuality - Archbishop Thabo Makgoba

Interview at Christ the King, Sophiatown

The Church's top legislative body, our Provincial Synod, yesterday held a debate on the issue of pastoral care to people of gay and lesbian orientation who are in committed same-sex relationships.

The two proposals before the Synod which drew most public attention were:

Firstly, that bishops should be allowed to license clergy who identify as LGBTI, and are in legal same-sex civil unions under South African law, to minister in parishes. The proposers of the motion before Synod withdrew this proposal before debate began.

Secondly, it was proposed that a Bishop may “provide for prayers of blessing to be offered for those in same sex civil unions.” The motion before the Synod did not propose that clergy should be able actually to marry same-sex couples under Church law.

Under the Canons, I declared the issue a controversial motion. This meant that to be approved, it needed a simple majority vote in the three separate “houses” of the Synod: the House of Bishops, the House of Clergy and the House of Laity, the latter representing the people in the pews. In addition, if it had been approved in each of those houses, voting separately, it needed a two-thirds majority overall to pass.

The motion failed to achieve a simple majority in any House. The bishops voted 16 to six against the motion, the laity 41 to 25 against and the clergy 42 to 34 against.

We live in a democracy, our Church has strongly advocated democracy, and people on all sides of the debate have to accept the result.

At the same time, the debate is not over. Without trying to predict its ultimate outcome, or to suggest what that should be, it was notable that a number of opponents of the motion did not reject it out of hand, but suggested instead that opinion in our Church was not yet ready for such a move.

As it was, the degree of support for the motion was quite substantial if you compare us to other African provinces of the Anglican Church, most of which are vigorously opposed to same-sex unions in any form. This was the first time this issue has been seriously debated by our Church, and representatives are free to raise it again at future synods.

Our Church, like South Africa as a nation, has previously provided an example to the world over how we can overcome differences over issues that people feel strongly about, such as sanctions against apartheid and the ordination of women as priests. It remains my hope that those on both sides of this debate can overcome their differences in a way that will be an example to the rest of the Anglican Communion, which is as divided over the issue as we are.

Finally, a word to our lesbian and gay sisters and brothers:

I was deeply pained by the outcome of the debate. I was glad I wear glasses or the Synod would have seen the tears. I wanted to be anywhere but in the Synod hall – I wished I was at home quietly in Makgoba's Kloof.

If one of you, my church members, is in pain, then I am in pain too. The pain on both sides of the debate in Synod was palpable and no one celebrated or applauded the outcome. There are no winners or losers in the Kingdom of God, and we recognised that whichever way the vote went, there was going to be pain.

Nothing that I heard in the last two days takes away from what the bishops have already said to people of LGBTI orientation:

You are loved by God, and all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ. We recognise that many of you are baptised and confirmed members of the Church and are seeking the pastoral care, moral direction of the Church, and God’s transforming power for the living of your lives and the ordering of your relationships. We urge you to stick with us to play your full part in the deliberations to come.

May God bless you, and God bless us all.

This post has been corrected since first added.

Archbishop Thabo on SABC News on student protests

An excerpt from Archbishop Thabo's interview at Provincial Synod appears at 3:37 minutes.



The full interview with the SABC can be heard below:

VIDEO - Anchored in the Love of Christ

Archbishop's Charge to Provincial Synod

Discerning, Developing and Directing the Resources God Provides for the Task God Sets Before Us

Text of the Charge delivered to Provincial Synod by the Most Revd Thabo Makgoba, Archbishop of Cape Town and Metropolitan of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, 27 September, 2016.

Job 3:1-19, Psalm 88:1-7, Luke 9:51-56

Introduction

May I speak in the name of God who creates, redeems and sustains. Amen.

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, members of Provincial Synod, distinguished guests: greetings. Welcome to the Thirty-Fourth Session of the Provincial Synod of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa.

I extend a particular welcome to our guests—and especially to our long-time partners in mission and ministry from Trinity Wall Street: the Rector and our homilist, Dr Bill Lupfer, whom we will decorate later in the service as Provincial Honorary Canon, his wife Kimiko and their team, Canon Benjamin Musoke-Lubega amongst them. I also greet our ecumenical guests and the friends and families of those to be decorated with the Order of Simon of Cyrene, as well as those to be licensed as provincial registrars and deputies.

Those attending Provincial Synod for the first time, a special welcome to you. I hope you will feel at home as you navigate the processes and procedures of this mainly legislative assembly and that you will feel emboldened to contribute confidently to proceedings.

Lungi, Nyakallo and Paballo have a special way of putting me in my place. I am grateful to God for who they are and for giving me the space and time as well as the necessary critiques of how I perform my varied ministries.

Thank you also to the advisory teams, to the Synod of Bishops, the staff at Bishopscourt, the synod manager, Fr Keith Griffiths, the Provincial Treasury, the diocesan staff, the chancellors and registrars of the Province, indeed to everyone who has contributed to this Synod. A special word of thanks to two of my former staff members, Canon William Mostert and Ms Pumeza Magona, for all their hard work in getting us here.

Let me also extend my and the Province’s particular thanks to Dr Sitembele Mzamane, Dean of the Province, Bishop of Mthatha and Vicar-General of the Diocese of Mzimvubu. You have shouldered an enormous burden for this Province, and for that we give thanks to God.

Since our last Synod, Bishop Nathaniel Nakwatumbah of Namibia has retired and, tragically, died too soon afterwards. The retired Bishop of Grahamstown, David Russell, and the retired Bishop Suffragan of Cape Town, Charles Albertyn, have also died. I want to pay a special tribute to them. Let us observe a moment of silence and thank God for their lives and witness in Namibia, Grahamstown and Cape Town, and for their pastoral zeal and love for all God’s people.

It is always a delight and a special honour to welcome new bishops to Provincial Synod, and this year we have six with us: Bishop Carlos Matsinhe of Lebombo, Bishop Charles May of the Highveld, Bishop Monument Makhanya of Zululand, Bishop Luke Pato of Namibia, Bishop Allan Kannemeyer of Pretoria, and Bishop Manuel Ernesto, the Suffragan Bishop of Niassa. And of course, Bishop Dino Gabriel has been translated from Zululand to Natal. Soon we will consecrate new bishops for the dioceses of Niassa and Christ the King, and for Mthatha after Bishop Sitembele’s forthcoming retirement.

We thank God for the ministry of those who have served this Province as bishops and who have retired since the last meeting of Synod: Bishops Dinis Sengulane of Lebombo, David Bannerman of the Highveld, Rubin Phillip of Natal, Jo Seoka of Pretoria and Peter Lee of Christ the King. We also thank Bishop Mark van Koevering of Niassa, who resigned to return to the United States, for his decades of dedicated service to the people of Mozambique.

The Incarnation and the Use of Resources

Let me start the substance of my Charge with a poem by Rudyard Kipling, which comes from one of the Just So Stories:

I keep six honest serving-men

(They taught me all I knew);

Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who.

I send them over land and sea,

I send them east and west;

But after they have worked for me,

I give them all a rest.

I let them rest from nine till five,

For I am busy then,

As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,

For they are hungry men.

But different folk have different views;

I know a person small—

She keeps ten million serving-men,

Who get no rest at all!

She sends 'em abroad on her own affairs,

From the second she opens her eyes—

One million Hows, two million Wheres,

And seven million Whys!

In saying the Daily Offices and Mass in the chapel at Bishopscourt from Monday to Thursday each week, I try to bring the joys and challenges of this office before God as I seek to discern the will of God and to develop a response which is spirit-filled, yet not timid or woolly, and directs others to Christ within a theological theme. But when I am dealing with the things that come across the archiepiscopal desk each day, too often I fail to ask: What is happening? Why is it happening? What ought to be happening? Who ought to be doing it? I need constantly to struggle theologically with the questions I ask again and again: What does it mean to be the body of Christ in such a time as this? To what discipleship are we called? What does the cost of this discipleship entail?

It was against the backdrop of this wrestling that I was excited recently to rediscover Kipling’s poem at the end of the story, The Elephant’s Child. Asking Kipling’s questions—“What and Why and When, and How and Where and Who”—has been a useful tool for discerning the way forward. The Synod Advisory Committee—and the reality of our church’s finances and resources—have directed me to a further area. That is the what, the why, the when, the how, the where and the who of exploring a conversation between Incarnation, which concerns theology, and available Resources, which concern economy. In this Charge, want to begin a journey in which we move beyond throwing out biblical statements such as that God and mammon cannot co-exist and instead explore the subject through the lenses comprising our Synod theme, namely how we can, first, Discern, secondly Develop, and finally Direct the resources that God places before us for God’s mission.

I want us to look at what resources might be available within ACSA. Where are they to be found, how are we using them and why, and lastly who are they serving? The Charge, some of you will be pleased to know, will include some accounting for what has happened since the last Synod, including what you have told me in your reports and my own observations from when I have travelled around the Province. Of course I will also add and direct you to look beyond ACSA to broader societal matters.

Whether we are talking about the economy of our church or of our different nations, it is instructive to look at the roots of the word “economy”. It is based on the Greek words oikos, meaning household, and nomus, meaning patterns of behaviour, literally translated as rules. So when we ask what our attitude to the resources God places before us should be, we are asking what the rules that govern the allocation of the resources in our church household should be. As Anglican Christians, what informs us in the use of our time, money and skills? What biblical ideals should govern the use of our money, and how? What is the goal of the accumulation of resources?

Two years ago, I was struck by vendors in Turkey who lured you into their shops, saying, “Hello, Sir, let me help you spend your money.” Who and what guides you as an individual in how you deploy your resources? When one of our children was younger, they occasionally returned home from church with the money we had given for the collection plate. When we asked why they had returned home with God’s money, the reply was: “The preacher spoke for so long that I went to sleep and had to go out during the offertory to wake up.” In one way or another, it would seem the preacher misguided this particular child.

Anglicanism is often described as having a strong focus on the incarnation and I have placed repeated emphasis on it since my installation eight years ago. Simply put, by incarnation I refer to God in Jesus entering the everyday experience of human living to point us to God’s reign and to prepare and invite us through our everyday lives to enjoy the blessedness of this reign. My writing and advocacy on the theme of the incarnation and politics is born out of the struggle of God’s people with political systems in Southern Africa that demeaned all of us and which were not designed to address the concrete needs and experiences of our daily lives or to respond to God’s call to human flourishing.

Last year, in my capacities as Chancellor of the University of the Western Cape and Chair of the Church Leaders’ Consultation and the Church Leaders’ Forum of the South African Council of Churches, I was called with other church leaders to meet students protesting under the banner of the #feesmustfall movement. On the surface it seemed they were advancing a political cause, but when we went deeply into the issues over the course of many meetings, some late into the night at Bishopscourt, I came to appreciate the legacy of the inequality of South Africa’s political and economic system.

That system has given birth to an intergenerational economic inequality, in which those who are likely to flourish in our society are the sons and daughters of the elite, and those who will struggle to break out of a vicious circle of poverty are the daughters and sons of the poor. One of the initiatives I have supported is the University of the Free State’s campaign to reduce student hunger. We listened, shocked, to the stories of students who had secured loans for tuition and accommodation off campus, but who either did not have the money to buy food or had used it for computers and clothing. The question before us is: what does the incarnate Christ say about the economy, about student debt, household debt, diocesan and parochial debt in a world which in which there is also bounteous providence?

Incarnation is thus an invitation, as the theme of our Synod states, to begin a journey to discern, to develop and to direct our lives to be more and more like that of the incarnate Christ. The invitation is costly and Jesus’ disciples struggle with it even after they accept it and are honoured to be in his presence. Let us too accept and let’s begin our journey by looking at what today’s lessons tell us.

The first lesson, Job 3:1-19, depicts the “new” struggle of someone who had accepted the invitation of actually translating that acceptance into actual practice. You might want to paraphrase Job’s account by asking: why does a righteous God allow a just servant to suffer? Faced with individual and private suffering, Job vents his thoughts, “let no joyful voice come therein”. There is no happily ever after. Job is restless and does not understand why evil and suffering should beset him as a God-abiding person. He finds his context and personal circumstances too burdening. To borrow the language we used earlier to define the economy, he asks: Why are the rules of the household so unfair, full of suffering and evil? Where is God in all of this?

The psalmist echoes this lament. Like Job, the psalmist feels cut off from God. Unlike in Job’s case, the feeling of sadness is due to his weighty ills.The psalmist’s soul is full of trouble. Remember the refrain, “Why are you so full of heaviness my soul, why so unquiet within me?” In this psalm, the psalmist expresses raw feelings, seemingly on the brink of collapse. There is no sense of Job’s discernment of the hand and presence of God in evil and suffering, only personal trauma and clouds of darkness. I have to confess that while preparing this Charge I was worried that the melancholy of these first readings was too depressing for the opening of Synod, and I was tempted to drop the day’s lections and choose readings which reflected more sunshine. But I stayed with them, trying to discern what God might be saying to me, to members of Synod and to those who might read this text.

Discernment does not have to be morose but neither can it be shallow nor an escape from reality. I find the concept of lament, as expressed by Denise Ackermann, helpful in this context. Denise has written that lamenting “...is a refusal to settle for the way things are. It is reminding God that the human situation is not as it should be and that God as the partner in the covenant must act.” In exploring lamentation, we trust that the incarnate, second person of the Trinity, God who took human form, is always with us as we discern his way in struggling with the contemporary issues of our day. We must thus act courageously, “recklessly confident” that nothing will separate us from God’s love.

Turning to the Gospel, as the Lucan Jesus zigzags through the villages to Jerusalem, he is rejected even by those he went out of his way to embrace. The disciples can’t deal with this rejection and want to respond by deploying God’s power to destructive ends. But Jesus forcefully directs them away from such a course, pointing them to the bigger picture and highlighting that short-term gains come at a long-term cost. His action underlines the importance of his disciples accurately discerning risks, discerning the correct interventions to make, relying neither on bullying nor fear-laden behaviour but on developing God’s ways.

Discerning

During the Lenten observances of our life’s journeys, we are called to discern God’s ways. Job and the psalmist give us a model for penetrating the issues more deeply. They lament. The disciples on the other hand demonstrate how often we shy away from probing the messiness and madness of the world around us, but act impulsively to avoid it. We are particularly prone to this in our technological age. We—and I count myself here too—often tend to ”press the send button” before discerning whether our intervention builds the kingdom or is self-seeking or egoistic.

But I have to tell you that when I read the reports, the measures and the resolutions that will come before us at this Synod, I am heartened. As your Archbishop and Metropolitan, I have the privilege of regularly travelling through the Province, and with the broader view this gives me I discern that as we—like the Lucan Jesus zigzagging his way to Jerusalem—traverse the mountains and hills, the valleys and the plains, the wealth and the filthy poverty of our Province, we can thank God that we are alive at such a time. Although there are risks, although there is pushing and pulling, although there are those who, like the disciples, are tempted to want to escape from our protracted and complex problems by seeking Elijah’s chariot of fire to take us away, we are nevertheless growing; we are wrestling, we are fighting, we are laughing, we are planting, we are learning and teaching, we are healing, we are communicating, and above all we are determined to be people of the Way.

Although when I address specific situations in this Charge I am usually referring to our own Province, we should also give our attention to the pain in other parts of our continent. In recent months I have visited both Kigali in Rwanda, for a meeting of the Council of the Anglican Provinces of Africa, and Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for the inauguration of the new Archbishop of the Congo. These visits were part of an intentional outreach to develop closer relations with our sister Provinces across the continent. In Kigali, where I visited the city’s genocide memorial, I could not help but be struck by how well the city works. There is effective policing, the place is clean and there is a commitment to service. But I got the distinct impression that the efficiency could be the result of an obsession to run away from the country’s dreadful past, from the messiness of a system that did not work. That made me all the more grateful for the national electoral systems in our Province which do work in mediating political conflict, seen most recently in the South African municipal elections.

I was also distressed at how political leaders in the Great Lakes Region of Africa don’t seem to want to give up power. President Museveni in nearby Uganda has been in power for 30 years. In sad demonstrations of undemocratic behaviour, others have sought to follow him by staging pseudo-referendums or manipulating their constitutional processes to abolish or ignore presidential term limits. As a result, in Burundi we have seen gross human rights violations, including disappearances, assassinations and other killings. It would appear that President Kabila in the Congo wants to become the newest person to go down this road. Of course in our own region, presidents Dos Santos in Angola and Mugabe in Zimbabwe lead the pack, having ruled since 1979 and 1980 respectively. We hope that President Zuma won’t seek to emulate them; fortunately in current circumstances it would appear that his party would not have the stomach to try to force through such a change.

Not only in our own Province, our region and our continent, but across the world we hear the cries of those of God’s people who are unable to live their lives as abundantly as God desires. The Anglican Communion’s fourth “Mark of Mission” enjoins us “to transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and pursue peace and reconciliation.” In response to the cries of the people and to our call to mission, let those of our parishioners who are well endowed and well connected become voices which broadcast widely the lamentations of the Jobs and the psalmists of our time. The incarnation invites us to a deeper dialogue with our governments over ways in which they and we can uproot and destroy structures which facilitate societal evils.

A number of our bishops have been attending courses on sustainability in the use of the church’s resources and exploring various commercial models to ensure this sustainability. We are grateful to Trinity Wall Street for their support of this initiative for the church in Africa. Each one of you is involved in the economy in one way or another, so each one of you has a contribution to make from your own experience: what are the questions you ask of yourselves and which we should be asking? What should direct your, and our, use of money? We have many skilled and under-employed people. We have plenty of land and parish buildings. Can we find ways in which we can deploy these to empower the unskilled and unemployed? We have many people who love this church and give of their time and talents. What should we do to guide them to give more without counting the cost and without, in some instances at least, wanting power to control. Can we develop a sustainable Christian model for financing—even a Christian bank—which operates on the basis of equitable and just principles, less speculation and fair taxes? Many of the poor I meet in the Province give all they have to the church but cry, “When will development bring justice and wear a compassionate face?” Can it? we ask. I came across a colleague from the Philippines who answered impulsively, like the disciples to Jesus: No, it cannot and it will not. Our faith does not allow us to live with that answer.

Developing

Developing is acknowledging that we are not static. We need to become more and more like the incarnate Christ, who came not to be served but to serve. Our Mission Statement as a Province invites us as disciples to transform the legacies of apartheid and to grow communities of faith that form, inform, and transform those who follow Christ. In the global context, development has sadly become synonymous with the insatiable quest of the privileged for unguided, untrammelled growth at the expense of the poor and indigenous and on the basis of uneconomic land use. In discerning how we as ACSA need to develop and grow and use our resources, we are called to develop what I call a “spirituality of enough”, one which promotes equality and sharing.

Let me share some of the development which has happened in our Province over the last three years and of which I am most proud:

Since the last Synod, through the work of the Anglican Board of Education our Province has partnered with others and opened the Mabooe Archbishop High School in Lesotho. The CEO of ABESA joined me, the Bishop of Lesotho and others for the opening. We need, as a Province, to continue to support the school, which needs more classrooms. Encouraged by this education mission, individual parishioners in Lesotho have renovated their schools and are building local churches near the schools. The Vuleka St Joseph’s Archbishop School was also officially opened in Johannesburg, where we are grateful to the Diocese for its facilities. The Diocese of Swaziland has a large plot and is drafting a proposal to open a school too. The ABESA report to Synod is well worth reading. The AWF in Grahamstown has a bursary scheme for indigent learners, as does the Provincial AWF for women in the ordained ministry.

The College of the Transfiguration, ANSOCs, our Anglican schools and chaplains and other diocesan initiatives continue to develop and form people of the way who respond to the calling to God’s mission in the world. The Mothers’ Union, the Bernard Mizeki Guild and others continue to offer socio-economic programmes to alleviate poverty and give skills to unemployed youth. Green Anglicans continue to develop ecological awareness among young people in particular and to promote the greening of our Province. Hope Africa has partnered with a number of dioceses in theology and development, not in theory but in praxis. I am grateful too to Growing the Church for its role in growing disciples and to the Liturgical Committee for directing the process of liturgical renewal in our Province.

Since the last Provincial Synod there have been other innovations which have advanced our mission and witness. We will launch some during Synod, such as a video giving glimpses of the life of our Province, produced courtesy of Trinity Wall Street. We will also hear inputs and reports on many other initiatives, including progress on a new Prayer Book, an updated Provincial website, a youth academy and progress with the registration of COTT. The newly-established Canon Law Council is working well, as is evident in the quality of measures and motions before us at Synod. We are grateful for the work of this Provincial advisory team on matters canonical, especially the contributions of the Revd Matt Esau and Provincial Registrar Henry Bennett. In this our 167^th year, we are still growing, learning, discerning and developing into apt disciples of the 21^st century.

In partnership with the mining community and interfaith leaders, we have also started a series of what we call “Courageous Conversations”. This initiative is aimed at making an impact on the lives of ordinary people around the mines without compromising either the pastoral or the prophetic voice of the church. We have contracted the Provincial Public Policy director, Canon Desmond Lambrechts, to study and implement programmes and advocate policy changes that can generate responsible mining activity. This has brought about a mechanism for collaboration on issues such as health, development and advocacy.

I have recently returned from two weeks in Hong Kong, where I took part in the first Ecumenical School on Governance, Economics and Management, an initiative of the World Council of Churches, the World Communion of Reformed Churches, the Council for World Mission and the Lutheran World Federation. These four major international Christian groups convened the conference I attended to study how to achieve a new “economy of life” which benefits all. We looked at how we could find an alternative to the current global governance of money and financial systems, replacing it with a system that would be less exploitative and would distribute resources and income more equitably. This sounds impractical, but as stewards of God’s creation we know that nothing is impossible with God. I will be exploring with the Synod of Bishops at our leadership and formation week next February a theology and ecclesiology of generosity—the incarnation as hermeneutical conversation of theology and economy. This may well be one way of discerning what our prophetic voice might be in matters of economy. It could help us develop liturgies and an Anglican social teaching on the economy, possibly leading to a course at COTT on theology and economy.

In South Africa today, faith leaders across the spectrum are saying that we as a nation have lost our moral compass and that this has happened partly because we have been too quiet for too long. We have had little to say about the Treasury’s willingness to bail out SAA and badly-run state-owned enterprises, but not poor students mired in debt. In other parts of our Province, we have little to say about reported corruption in Angola and Mozambique, or about housing developments on the Namibian coast which locals cannot afford. Apart from Green Anglicans, few speak out about plans to develop nuclear energy at a time when great strides are being made in the storage of solar power. As prophets we are economically illiterate. Yet the economic ordering of society and the question of how we develop our material resources is central to the crises that afflict us.

In South Africa, the current ordering of the economy lies at the heart of the political crisis that is beginning to paralyse government. Inherited patterns of privilege and wealth, overwhelmingly associated with one racial group, have created an economy which spits in the face of Gospel values. Because of this injustice in the distribution of resources and economic power, there is a group in the ruling party which is carrying out a programme which it justifies on the grounds that it is necessary to redistribute the country’s wealth. However, the programme redirects resources not for the benefit of the poor but to a small elite group of individuals with links to a small number of politicians and officials. Private interests are capturing the public purse. Inflated tenders awarded to cronies drive up the cost of providing services. The worst-run state-owned enterprises are gobbling up billions of the public’s money, draining the fiscus and stalling the development of the real economy. The cost of nuclear procurement plans—the case for which has not been proven—threatens to become an albatross around the necks of our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, plunging them deeply into debt for decades to come. We are told that 16 million South Africans depend on social grants. If we allow the looting of the resources and wealth of future generations to continue unabated, there won’t be any money to pay those grants in future and millions will lose their only means of existence.

As the South African Communist Party correctly points out, the answer to the obscene inequality of our society does not lie in indulging the rapacious greed of a tiny number of politically-connected individuals—some of whom are associated with my Johannesburg neighbours down the road in Saxonwold. No, for Christians, challenging the skewed racial ordering of our economy must involve a new compact in society, driven by the values of the Kingdom of God, which creates a fairer and more equitable system. Perhaps Moeletsi Mbeki has a point when he calls for a new coalition for development between the very poor and the owners of capital on the basis that they are the two key constituencies who support sustainable economic growth. As religious leaders, we need to be intentional in building relationships between ourselves and with business and government to pursue these ideas.

I call upon Anglicans and others to join efforts to clean up our government and to reform our economy. As we discern, direct and develop our resources within the church, let us become more accountable and transparent about our own dealings and then be robust in demanding the same truth and behaviour from our governments. I call upon our liturgists, COTT, Hope Africa and other advisory bodies in our church to develop liturgies and Bible studies that can help us explore the creation and governance of wealth and pose sharp concise questions to help us formulate a social teaching on money and the common good. Perhaps God is calling us to denounce the kind of development that is creating inequality and poverty, and instead to learn to live simply.

Directing

Our formulation of this Synod’s theme ends by inviting us to direct the resources which God provides for the task set before us.

Last year we held a Provincial Planning Meeting to look at our Provincial Vision and Mission Statement. Both that meeting and Provincial Standing Committee meeting which followed it affirmed our mission priorities. They directed that we should prioritise communication and the personnel needed in this area. The prophetic ministry of the Archbishop and the Bishops needed to be enhanced within democratic southern Africa. There was an appreciation by both these meetings that prophetic ministry entails much more than criticism of the state: that it should also encompass the exercising of our theological imagination around what we hope each person should be about in a democratic state; that it should create space for all God’s people to tell their stories; and that it should include advocacy for change not only through public utterance and demonstration, but also through engaging in policy formulation. Following in the footsteps of the incarnate son of God, prophetic ministry entails understanding the obstacles of every village, being prepared to be rejected, being determined not to count the cost, finally to be glorified with Christ.

As you will see, we will be trimming the budget and returning to the five core mission support items of the Province. We are exploring the concept of impact investment, which will hopefully not be a new name for commodifying everything, speculating with the little money we have and ending up slaves to debt, but will bring about a means of caring for our disciples, our environment and being stewards for tomorrow’s faithful.

Whilst on the subject of care, and specifically of pastoral care, you will know that we have a motion on the agenda from the Diocese of Saldanha Bay concerning the pastoral care of Anglicans in same-sex relationships. We will discuss the motion first in Conference of Synod on Thursday, and I hope we will discern carefully together the needs of both our church and the broader church beyond this Province. I hope you will listen carefully to and hear one another other as we develop the mind of Synod, directed by the Holy Spirit already at work within us.

Conclusion

Let me end where I started, with the incarnation, in which God took on human form and in so doing became part of the contemporary world. Through the incarnation, God invites us to a conversation, on a Lucan journey, to discern as He does how best to realise our true humanity and to be directed in our ways with each other in service to God and in respect for His creation.

My prayer is that in evaluating our resources, we will not be trapped by the temptation of aggrandisement and profit to follow a prosperity gospel, but rather that, like Job and the psalmist, we will lament that which breaks our humanity and develop a spirituality and an ecclesiology of honesty and sharing. As your Archbishop, in response to an invitation to a conversational hermeneutic, especially with those who express disagreement, I will seek to listen, discern, develop and where necessary direct. I come to this Synod full of hope for our future, open and vulnerable like Job, ready to share my laments and hear yours, conscious of the disciples’ impatience and yet committed to the long journey ahead. I am full of hope because God has placed before me, before all of you—whether Synod members, staff, family, friends, colleagues or the restless youth of our time—many resources to discover and to dedicate to God’s service as we journey together and disciple one another.

Let us as a Province dare to discern, develop and direct the spiritual, mental, and material resources which God places before us for the good of all people and creation.

Let no one be too full while another goes hungry. Amen.

Archbishop appeals to South African student protesters

The schools, libraries and other institutions which have been burned in recent protests are those which have transformed the lives of South Africans and their leaders in the past, says Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, the Chancellor of the University of the Western Cape.

Archbishop Makgoba said this in an appeal to the higher education community, including students, in which he appealed for the Fees Commission to be given space to do its work.

The full text of his appeal follows:

I am deeply pained by the instability at Higher Education institutions across the country. 

Our universities, colleges and schools are important heritage sites for our communities. They preserve the history and the knowledge and the deeds of the leaders of yesterday, and serve in the education and growth of the leaders of tomorrow.  

It is this dream for the future leaders of this great country that we must protect. The burning of schools, libraries, and institutions of higher learning sets us back from progressing as a nation. It is in these schools, libraries and institutions where people's lives have been transformed.

We should not forget the role played by some of these institutions during apartheid to contribute to the freedom we enjoy today. These institutions have not only moulded current leaders and those before us, but have transformed the lives of children and families who come from the dusty streets of rural Limpopo or those who come from Langa, Mitchells Plain, Manenberg and other townships and rural areas around the country.  

Let us give a space to the Fees Commission to do its work, and await its recommendations with regard to the feasibility of free education for the poor. Let us give the Ministry of Higher Education and Treasury a space to implement their new plans to assist the “missing middle” by introducing a new funding model for 2017. 

 

We must protect our students’ right to learn in a conducive and enabling environment. As we need to respect students’ right to peacefully protest we must also respect students’ right to peacefully continue the academic programme without interruptions and intimidation. 

 

Parents, take responsibility, our children come from homes, families, and communities.

I acknowledge that success in most struggles has always been in the hands of the young. 

 

With so much inequality and poverty in this country, let us refrain from deepening the divide through destructive actions. Violence and destructive action will not bring about the desired solutions. 

 

I am praying for our children at all the universities, that our convictions may prove to be greater than the challenges that confront us today. 

 

You have the opportunity to be part of something bigger than yourselves. When one day you reflect on this time, may the story you tell be one that fills you with pride. May it be a story that like the stories your parents told you of their fight for your right to equal education, makes future generations appreciate the opportunities we have that they never had. May your legacy not be one that destroys centres of learning, leaving nothing for posterity.

Archbishop assures Finance Minister, Treasury staff of prayers

An Open Letter to Minister Pravin Gordhan and the staff of the National Treasury

Dear Minister Gordhan, Deputy Minister Jonas, Director-General Fuzile and the staff of the National Treasury,

I address you on behalf of the Anglican Church and of the religious leaders whom you met before presenting the Budget this year to reassure you of our support for your difficult task at this time.

I am confident that religious leaders of all faiths speak on behalf of millions of their followers when we reassure you that our people are praying for you and that the vast majority of South Africans are behind you in your efforts to ensure that taxpayers' money is spent for the benefit of all and not to enrich a few.

We want to highlight the critical values of openness and transparency and urge you within the constraints imposed by the law to ensure that the maximum light is brought to bear on how government resources are being spent. As Christians we say the truth will set us free (John 8:32). The sun, the light, is God's disinfectant and will help us cleanse ourselves as a nation.

We thank you for your hard work and dedication and your willingness even to put your life on the line in order to protect the gains of the struggle and to enhance the quality of the lives of our people.

God bless you.

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba
Cape Town

Listen to Archbishop Thabo reading the letter:

To the Laos - To the People of God - September 2016

Dear People of God

This month marks the anniversary of significant milestones in the lives of the two living previous archbishops of Cape Town.

Thirty years ago today, September 7, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu was enthroned as Archbishop. As I write, he has been in hospital receiving treatment for a recurring infection, and his office has announced that he will undergo a small surgical procedure today to address the root cause of the infection. I visited him upon my return from overseas at the weekend, and he was in good spirits. Please keep him, Mrs Leah Tutu, and their family in your prayers.

Also this month, Archbishop Emeritus Njongonkulu Ndungane celebrates the 20th anniversary of his becoming Archbishop. It is also 25 years since his consecration as Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman, and to cap it off he has celebrated his 75th birthday this year. Our warm congratulations to Archbishop Njongo, and our thanks to him for his continued public service in different capacities.

I write this against the background of last month's South African municipal elections. I am grateful that people went to the polls and voted in such numbers and with such enthusiasm, so that our democracy can be said to be both vibrant and legally intact. What is most encouraging is that South Africa has a legislative framework which establishes institutions and mechanisms that enable the electoral process to happen successfully—so much so that although the ruling party lost political control in major cities, the outcomes were accepted by all. So we need to compliment our political role players but especially that framework and those it empowers to keep our democratic processes operating.

Whether we voted or not, what all of us must now do is to act with the urgency that is demanded of us to make South Africa work and to make our nation what God has destined it to be. I say this also against the backdrop of my short stay in Rwanda recently, where I attended a meeting of the Council of the Anglican Provinces of Africa. Leaving the meeting in Kigali, the capital, to visit the city's memorial to the 1994 genocide, I could not help but be struck by how the city really does work. There is effective policing, the place is clean and when you get to a shop, even if stocks are limited there is a commitment to service. But although the city works, I had the impression that it was a result of what one might call an obsession: a desire to run away from the dreadful past, from the messiness of a system that did not work. That makes me all the more grateful for how our electoral system mediates political conflict, and leads me to re-commit myself to making our country work, and to call upon all our parishioners to play their part in helping that happen.

Since returning from Kigali, I have been reading all the motions, measures and reports that will come before Provincial Synod—our Church's top legislative body—when it meets in September. Reading the reports from provincial ministries and organisations reminds me of the humbling privilege I have as Metropolitan to have a “helicopter” view of all that the Province does. If one looks only only at the difficulties being experienced by a problematic diocese or parish, or at the financial challenges we face, one doesn't appreciate the beauty, the energy and the excitement of what is being done in our church right across Southern Africa. The Province is busy, the Province is active and the Province is alive with worship, mission and service. For that I give thanks to God.

We have resolutions before Synod which may be controversial, one of them on human sexuality, and we too have legislative mechanisms which can help us to address such matters successfully. The Canons allow us to go into Conference, which frees us of the sometimes stifling rules of debate when we are considering a motion. The Synod's advisory team has decided that we need to create more time and space than would normally the available to discuss the motion on human sexuality, so we will go into Conference for our initial discussion of that motion. I am hoping that Synod will be a time of robust and open debate as we confront and work through the issues.

God bless you

†Thabo Cape Town

Provincial Synod to debate proposal for pastoral care for LGBTI members

The forthcoming Provincial Synod is to decide on a proposal to make formal provision for pastoral care to church members identifying as gay and lesbian.

The proposal is contained in a motion included in the 2nd Agenda Book for Synod, which is being sent to Dioceses this week.

Announcing the proposal, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba said:

"The motion, tabled by the Diocese of Saldanha Bay, proposes that any bishop of the church who wishes to do so may make provision for her or his clergy to provide pastoral care to those who identify as LGBTI.

"This proposal affirms the assurance already given by our bishops that church members who identify as LGBTI are loved by God and share in full membership of our Church as baptised members of the Body of Christ.

"More controversially, the motion also proposes that clergy who identify as LGBTI and are in legal same-sex civil unions should be licensed to minister in our parishes.

"It also suggests that 'prayers of blessing' should be able to be offered for those in same-sex civil unions. However, it specifically rules out the possibility of marriage under church law.

"It also accepts that any cleric unwilling to take part in providing pastoral care to people who identify as LGBTI shall not be obliged to do so."

The Archbishop added: "Without anticipating what Synod will decide, this debate is overdue in the top councils of our Church, and I welcome it."

The full text of the motion to go before the Synod follows:
 
A MOTION on PASTORAL CARE in a CONTEXT OF DIVERSE HUMAN SEXUALITY

Presented to the PROVINCIAL SYNOD of ACSA in SEPTEMBER 2016
   
Whereas

The Anglican Communion has wrestled for many years to produce a comprehensive and mutually acceptable pastoral response to the issue of diversity in human sexuality, to homosexuality and to same sex unions.

And whereas

In 1998, Resolution 1.10 adopted by the Lambeth Conference called the Anglican Communion to listen to the experience of homosexual persons and to assure them that they are loved by God and that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ, and called on the Communion to minister pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation;

And whereas

Anglicans have historically chosen to use Scripture, Tradition and Reason and Experience when discerning God’s unfolding call to mission, knowing that these pillars provide a helpful space in which many voices can be heard and many insights shared, so that a loving pastoral response to those identifying as LGBT can be offered

And whereas

Provincial Synods of ACSA have asked the Bishops of our Province provide guidelines for ministry to those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual or intersex (LBGTI), but have been unable to complete these guidelines

And whereas

Lay and ordained Anglicans who identify as LGBTI, throughout the Communion and within our Province and Dioceses are in need of pastoral care and spiritual support and look to the church for help especially when wanting to enter into same-sex unions

 Therefore, this Synod resolves

1. That a Bishop may:

1.1. provide for clergy to be especially prepared for a ministry of pastoral care for those identifying as LGBTI, accepting that any cleric unwilling to engage in such envisioned pastoral care shall not be obliged to do so;

1.2. provide for pastoral counselling of those identifying as LGBTI;

1.3. provide for the preparation for and the licensing of those in same sex unions to lay ministries on Parochial, Archidiaconal and Diocesan levels;

1.4. provide for prayers of blessing to be offered for those in same sex civil unions;

1.5. provide for the licensing for ministry of clergy who identify as LGBTI and are in legal same sex civil unions;

1.6. provide for the use of Liturgical Rites in regard to the above ministries.

2. That a Bishop may not

2.1. provide For the solemnization of same sex unions by clergy, in terms of the ACSA Canon on Marriage (Canon 34).

3. That the Archbishop be respectfully requested to establish an Archbishop’s Commission to:

3.1. Review, reflect on, research and share such theological, pastoral and prophetic principles emerging from this Motion;

3.2 Recommend further actions, both through Interim Reports, tabled at meetings of the Synod of Bishops, and through a final Recommendations Report which is to be tabled at the 2018 meeting of PSC, so that Recommendations, Measures and Motions can be put forward to the 2019 session of the Provincial Synod.

Archbishop's call on political leaders ahead of SA polls

The Electoral Code of Conduct Observer Commission (ECCOC) – a body made up of religious and civil society leaders – will once again play a key role in making sure that Wednesday's local government elections in South Africa are free and fair.

ECCOC works in conjunction with the Independent Electoral Commission and it aims to help create and maintain conditions in which elections run smoothly.

One of its tasks is to ensure that political parties and their leaders understand that they should not incite violence and instability at a time when tensions could be running high.

“Political leaders should not be irresponsible and part of ECCOC’s role is to ensure that they behave in a responsible manner on election day. We want to be the first port of call if anyone feels uncomfortable about anything related to the elections,” said ECCOC’s chairperson, Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba.

ECCOC’s 15 members are drawn from various faith communities, with a few from civil society.

ECCOC operates mainly in the Cape metropolitan area and, on election day, sends observers to voting stations around the broader Cape Peninsula. They monitor whether presiding officers are doing their jobs properly and whether elections are conducted in an efficient manner.

ECCOC as an organisation attempts to be impartial as far as party politics is concerned and its members are present at polling stations as objective observers.

“We help to defuse tense situations if there are any. We hope that political parties and the electorate see our presence as helping to ensure that there is a moral presence on election day,” said Archbishop Mokgoba.

Reviewing the fight against HIV and Aids

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba attended the International Aids Conference in Durban in July. The World Council of Churches posted these videos reflecting some of his activities.

South African Deputy Chief Justice Receives Archbishop's Award

The Archbishop and Justice Moseneke (Photo: Open Society)

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba has presented retired Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke of South Africa with a special award for his lifelong public service.

Archbishop Makgoba presented Justice Moseneke with the Archbishop's Award for Peace with Justice at Bishopscourt in Cape Town. He did so at a reception during which the interfaith community and civil society in Cape Town expressed their appreciation for Justice Moseneke's service.

Earlier, the Open Society Foundation for South Africa hosted an event during which young lawyers interacted with Justice Moseneke.

In his citation for the award, the Archbishop said that the judge “has earned renown for his strong commitment to social justice and equality, for his fiercely independent spirit and for his dedication to striving for what is good for all the people of South Africa.”

Quoting from Micah, the citation said Justice Moseneke “has done justice, loved kindness and has walked humbly with his God.”

Among previous winners of the award are Archbishop Emeritus Desmond and Mrs Leah Tutu, South African Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, educationist and priest Dr Barney Pityana, retired President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia and retired Bishop John Osmers of Zambia.

The full text of the citation follows:

Archbishop’s Award for Peace with Justice - Dikgang Ernest Moseneke

Dikgang Moseneke’s public service can be said to have begun when he decided by the age of 12 that he wanted to change the circumstances of South Africa’s people. Becoming politically active at school in Atteridgeville, by 15 he was a student at what he has called “Makana University”, serving a 10-year prison sentence under the previous regime’s sabotage laws. On Robben Island he sat for his Junior Certificate with Walter Sisulu, then studied in turn for his matric, a BA in English and Political Science and a B Iuris degree, coached in Latin by a fellow prisoner, Mmutlanyane Stanley Mogoba—later a revered leader of the Methodist Church. He also became known for his skills in reconciling prisoners from different political traditions.

Out of prison, he completed his law articles at first an Afrikaans and then a Jewish firm, also earning his Bachelor of Laws degree. Then he established a law firm with other black attorneys in Pretoria. He was first admitted to the Bar in Johannesburg, when the Pretoria Bar still barred people of colour from membership. After helping to write our Interim Constitution, then serving as Deputy Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission, he went into business for six years, initially at the urging of President Nelson Mandela. Returning to the law, he was appointed a judge in Pretoria, then a year later to the Constitutional Court. Less than three years later, in June 2005, he was elevated to the position of Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa.

Throughout this time, Justice Moseneke has earned renown for his strong commitment to social justice and equality, for his fiercely independent spirit and for his dedication to striving for what is good for all the people of South Africa. As he memorably said when under fire for his views: “We will all do well to remember that in our constitutional democracy, underpinned by the will of the people and the rule of law, judges are not answerable to any political or other organisation, but are answerable to the will of the people as expressed and formalised in the Constitution and the laws of the Republic.”

Justice Moseneke is also a faithful and committed Methodist. In the words of Micah 6:8, he has done justice, loved kindness and has walked humbly with his God. The Anglican Church of Southern Africa is honoured to recognise this servant of God and of our people with the Archbishop’s Award for Peace with Justice.

To the Laos - To the People of God - June 2016

To the Laos - To the People of God - June 2016

Dear People of God

We face a busy time in the Province in the coming months. The recent Elective Assembly of the Diocese of Christ the King delegated to the Synod of Bishops the choice of a new bishop to succeed Bishop Peter Lee. So the bishops must now choose new bishops for both Niassa and Christ the King at their next meeting at the end of September. Please pray for us as we consider these choices.

Immediately after the Synod of Bishops meets, we will have our three-yearly Provincial Synod. Please pray for the planning process for Provincial Synod, which brings together the whole body of Christ in our church in Angola, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, the island of St Helena and Swaziland. Looking beyond our Province, the body of Christ as represented by Anglicans across Africa will meet in Kigali, Rwanda in August, when we will have a meeting of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA). Pray for this meeting too, and for the election of a successor to the CAPA chair, Archbishop Bernard Ntahoturi of Burundi. Beyond Africa, please pray for the Gafcon grouping of Anglican churches and, indeed, for the whole Communion.

Both the Communion and our own Province continue to face the historic challenge posted by the debate around human sexuality. It is a painful issue both for those who support the traditional position on marriage and for those who wish to introduce changes. In our Province, the bishops are committed to ongoing dialogue and conversations around the issue, and I urge those who have not yet read my pastoral letter after the last Synod of Bishops to read it here.

The Second Agenda Book for Provincial Synod will include a resolution on the matter. Please begin to pray about this issue, reflecting on your own sexuality, on your understanding of the sexual orientations of others and on what might constitute a godly, pastoral, biblical and just way of dealing with this matter, taking us to a place beyond where we are now, in which those on both sides of the debate seem to be locked into our positions. I don't want to pre-empt our discussions at Provincial Synod here, but just be aware that this debate is on the agenda. I encourage you to ask your representatives to consult as widely as possible in your diocesan and parish preparations for Synod.

However, I should say immediately that I don’t want the issue of sexuality to dominate our thinking as we view the Communion, and especially as we consider the welfare of our sisters and brothers in other parts of our continent. I have recently been reading material from the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), in Durban, and the situation in the Great Lakes Region is very worrying. Pray particularly for the Democratic Republic of Congo—for an end to conflict in the east, for their planned elections and for their rulers as it appears elections might be delayed and the President’s term of office extended. Madiba’s role in brokering a previous settlement there makes the fate of the Congolese people of special concern to us. As you consider the issues to be dealt with by Provincial Synod, please pray for the Synod using the prayer which appears at the end of this letter.

In South Africa, we are scheduled to have heavily-contested municipal elections in August. It is against that backdrop that I joined other religious leaders recently to witness party leaders and the IEC staff signing the Electoral Code of Conduct in Cape Town. At the signing, the IEC pledged to be transparent and accountable as they work to ensure a free and fair environment for elections. Parties also pledged to play their part. Among the commitments which the Code imposes on parties and candidates are that they undertake:

•    Not to use language which provokes violence,
•    Not to intimidate voters,
•    Not to publish false information about other candidates or parties,
•    Not to bribe others to vote for a party,
•    Not to deface or remove posters, and
•    Not to carry weapons.

Preaching at St Luke’s, Salt River, in Cape Town earlier this month, I regretted the fact that in some provinces of the country we have seen an upsurge in what are said to be political killings. I appeal to all Anglicans to take seriously our civic responsibilities: to vote and to take action if you see any signs of the Code being breached.

In Cape Town, news has come in of the passing of Bishop Charles Albertyn, formerly Bishop Suffragan and a Regional Bishop in the Diocese. His funeral will be on Saturday June 25. We remember Bishop Charles for his deep spirituality and centredness on God, and for the deep wisdom and quick wit he brought to the leadership of the Diocese. We convey the Province’s heartfelt condolences to Berenice and the Albertyn family.

Please offer your prayers for all the situations I have mentioned in this letter in the spirit of St Paul, where he says so beautifully in 1 Corinthians 12, that “all the members of the body, though many, are one body...” and “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it.”

God bless you

†Thabo Cape Town

 

            Collect for Provincial Synod

            Bounteous God
            You provide all that is needed to proclaim your
               Kingdom to the nations in our generation:
            Grant us
           the wisdom to discern the available resources,
           the means to develop the people you are calling, and
               the humility and strength to commit to the task before us;
            through Jesus Christ who has revealed the Kingdom to us
            and in the power of the Holy Spirit who drives us into your world.
                                Amen

VIDEO and PHOTOS: Archbishop awards Leah and Desmond Tutu

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba on Friday presented the Archbishop's Award for Peace with Justice to Archbishop Emeritus Desmond and Mrs Leah Tutu.

See excerpts from the citations below...





Excerpts from the citations:

Mrs Tutu: We honour Nomalizo Leah Tutu for her lifelong commitment to servant leadership as a courageous opponent of injustice and oppression and as a sustainer, a mother and a supporter of those in her family and beyond who share that commitment. As a role model for students on campuses from Fort Hare to Roma, she helped young women uncertain of themselves in adjusting to their new world. Uprooted from a life of comfort abroad, she came home to fight bravely for the rights of domestic workers, confronting those who would ill-treat some of the most powerless in society. In the face of threats and danger to her husband and family, she nurtured and created a safe haven for them and her extensive network of friends, many of them also leaders in the struggle. Indeed, she does justice, loves kindness and walks humbly with her God.

Archbishop Tutu: We honour Desmond Mpilo Tutu’s extraordinary contributions to the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, to South Africa, Africa and the world as a priest and pastor, prophet and teacher, healer and humourist. Forever caring for his flock as a shepherd, he cajoles people to love one another, to recognise their common humanity and to understand their inter-dependence and equality before God. Angered when he sees those who are created in God’s image subjected to violations of their human dignity, he speaks out courageously for justice in the face of overwhelming odds. With the compassion learned from his beloved mother, he recognises both our strengths and vulnerabilities, always ready to forgive, willing to renew and anxious to reform, resuscitate and rebuild. All this undergirded by a sense of humour—and a loud cackle—which draws us into the all-embracing love of God which he models for everyone whose lives he touches.

Joining the Archbishop in presenting the award were, clockwise from the bottom, retired Bishop Charles Albertyn (back to camera), Bishop Brian Marajh of George, Canon William Mostert, the Provincial Executive Officer, retired Bishops Geoff Davies, Christopher Gregorowski and Geoff Quinlan, and the Revd Jerome Francis, the Archbishop's Chief of Staff at Bishopscourt.

Archbishop Thabo undergoes tests in Lusaka hospital

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba spent some hours in hospital in Lusaka today, but has been released and will return to South Africa tomorrow after the ACC meeting he has been attending.

He reported to his office in Bishopscourt tonight that after experiencing bowel irritation last night he developed non-stop throbbing headaches. He went to a clinic set up for the ACC, from where a doctor sent him to Lusaka Trust Hospital.

Several tests were done and he is now back in his hotel, he reports, "a bit wobbly as I have never spent more than three hours on a hospital bed. I was deeply humbled by +Justin's visitation and prayers at hospital." He sends his thanks to ACC members and to the "superb" doctors and staff at the hospital.