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.