Archbishop Justin Welby leads a service at the River Jordan
The Archbishop has issued the following comments on the recent meeting of the heads of churches of the world-wide Anglican Communion, held in Jordan in the Middle East:
We had a good Primates' Meeting,
spirit-led, forward-looking, inspiring and held in a cordial
atmosphere.
We met in the context of the Middle East, and the biblical
historical context reminded me of God’s presence in our lives and
throughout history.
Archbishop Thabo continues his account from Hong Kong on the work done on Wednesday and Thursday by the Anglican Consultative Council:
In further sessions, we heard a report from the Communion's Safe Church Network, which was set up to develop guidelines to enhance the safety of all persons in the church, especially children, young people and vulnerable adults.
Though time was limited, we started digging deeper into the regrettable pain of past and present abuses in the church, hearing voices from Africa, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. The discussion has been reframed to recognise that the abuses have hurt and negatively affected the mission of the church and the imperatives of the Gospel. The key development is that we have received guidelines, liturgy and a resolution on how we can move together to make the church safe and inclusive.
We then listened to an intervention and study commissioned by the Church of England called “Living in Love and Faith,” which is intended to provide Christian teaching and learning about human identity, sexuality and marriage. This is work in progress.
Before dinner, I again went for a swim to keep up with my exercise regimen. The meals are too good and one cannot do without physical activity as well – after all, physical activity is also part of my spiritual and prayer life. Sea bass is my favorite fish and today I had sea bass with veggies for dinner. (I am careful about sharing my favorite meals publicly. In one diocese, I foolishly did that and almost every parish responded by preparing it abundantly until I announced that I was off that. So sea bass is my favorite only as a treat and when I say so!)
At an after-dinner session, we had an hour-long event called “grilling the Archbishop” in which we could ask Archbishop Justin anything we liked, from what made him happy or sad to decisions about Lambeth, Brexit, his prayer life, Donald Trump and his vision for the church in 25 years, including what his prayer needs were. This was useful, as it eased the frustrations of working in a highly-structured ACC meeting, allowing some informality and including voices that would otherwise not be heard.
On Thursday, there was time for photos, of the whole meeting, the Standing Committee, the Primates on the Standing Committee and of the tables around which we are grouped. If you scroll down below the video which follows, you can see the community I have spent more time with than anyone else here, in Bible study and group work at Table 3, including ACC members from South Sudan, Singapore, Tanzania, Australia, Spain and Chile (two people from each) as well as Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon, the Secretary General.
We also listened to theological feedback, of which the graphic - also below the video - gives you a flavour, and I joined Archbishop Justin and Bishop Jane Alexander, the Bishop of Edmonton in Canada, to face a grilling from a panel of Anglican Consultative Council youth members. That's the photo you see at the top of this entry, and the video which follows records the session.
Archbishop Thabo Makgoba will seek the input of the next meeting of the Synod of Bishops in response to the recent resignation of the Right Revd Monument Makhanya, the Bishop of Zululand.
He said this in a statement issued after the Johannesburg Sunday Times published a report revealing that Bishop Makhanya had resigned after a former deacon in his Diocese had laid a complaint of sexual misconduct against him.
The Archbishop's statement said:
"I very much regret that someone appears to have relayed the content of Bishop Monument's ad clerum (a letter to his clergy) to the press.
"As I explained to the newspaper concerned, as soon as the complainant in this matter was willing to lodge a written statement, we followed our Province's guidelines for dealing with such allegations.
"Bishop Makhanya resigned during the process which followed, which is still ongoing. I have consulted with the Province's Safe Church Network and legal advisers and will seek the input of the next meeting of the Synod of Bishops on the way forward."
An address to the 2018 Provincial Conference of the Anglican Women’s Fellowship:
Theme: Women destined for God’s purpose
President of the AWF, Mrs Lucille Henniker, Members of your Provincial Executive Committee, Bishop Dan, your Liaison Bishop, Your host bishop, Bishop Ebenezer, and Delegates to this Provincial Conference,
Thank you so much for inviting me to this conference today, and thank you also to the visitors and guests here present. Let me acknowledge past Presidents Overmeyer and Titus as well as clergy who are here as chaplains.
Readings:
Job 23:1-9,16-17; Ps 22:1-15; Hebrews 4:12-16; Mark 10: 17-31
May
I speak in the name of God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.
Bishops,
dear brothers and sisters in Christ, dear people of God:
It
is an honour and a privilege to have been asked to share with you the
Word of God on this historic milestone in the life, witness and
ministry of the Diocese of Pretoria. Thank
you, Bishop
Allan, the clergy, your leadership team
and to the whole diocesan community for inviting me. Thank you
everyone for your warm welcome. Thank
you too to those who were involved in the preparations for this day.
Archbishop Thabo Makgoba has welcomed today's
Constitutional Court judgement making it easier to bring to justice the
perpetrators of sexual assault. He has also urged South Africa's parliament to act
quickly to end the bar on pressing charges if offences were committed more than 20 years earlier.
The South African writer Ishtiyaq Shukri has written an open letter in which he responds to Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s recent stepping down as an ambassador for Oxfam after a scandal around allegations of sexual misconduct.
In the letter, Mr Shukri said he was the victim of sexual abuse by Anglican priests and accused Archbishop Desmond of never fully addressing what he claimed was “systematic and institutionalised sexual abuse happening in his own organisation”.
In response, Archbishop Tutu’s office issued the following statement:
