Archbishop's appeal on climate change

Archbishop Makgoba welcomes Pope Francis's letter on 'Our Sister, Mother Earth'

People of faith need to focus on the moral and spiritual elements of the crisis brought about by rapid climate change, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town said today in response to Pope Francis's encyclical on the issue.

In a statement issued from Cape Town, the Archbishop said:

“I would like to thank Pope Francis for this historic, ground-breaking letter. I look forward to studying it in more detail.

“Across Africa and in other developing countries, we are already suffering the impacts of climate change, and the people hit hardest by severe droughts or storms are in our most vulnerable communities.

Archbishop Thabo fasts for the climate

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba travelled to Bonn, Germany early in June for United Nations talks held to prepare for the next major international climate conference in Paris in December.

The Archbishop, who chairs the Anglican Communion Environmental Network, attended the talks in his role as a Global Climate Ambassador for the ACT Alliance, an international coalition of more than 140 churches and affiliated organisations working to create positive and sustainable change in the lives of poor and marginalised people.

During the meeting, he fasted for a day. He explains why:

Reflection on Corpus Christi

From the chapel at Bishopscourt, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba reflects on Corpus Christi against the backdrop of a major conference on Ecclesiology and Ethics: The state of ecumenical theology in Africa, and of the 2015 World Economic Forum on Africa.

Readings referred to:
Psalm 116: 11-18
Hebrews 9: 11-15
Mark 14: 12-16, 22-26

New Generation Appeals to World Leaders: 'Save Our Soils for Us and Our Children!'

Amsterdam Declaration focuses on need for immediate action to safeguard soils - vital for food supplies - for future generations

AMSTERDAM - "Please look after our planet. Cultivate it, pass it on responsibly, so we may do the same. Please look after the soil."

This was the urgent plea, on behalf of the Youth Food Movement and the world's children, of 20-year-old Nyakallo Makgoba at the closing ceremony of the Celebrating Soil! Celebrating Life! conference in Amsterdam last Friday. 

Speaking at the UN-backed event on the importance of soil to food supplies, Nyakallo Makgoba and Joszi Smeets of the Youth Food Movement demanded delegates, including ministers, royalty and business leaders, act to stop to soil erosion and degradation.

To the Laos – To the People of God, Pentecost 2015

Dear People of God,

At Pentecost, we celebrate the birth of our Church, marked by the empowering of Jesus’ Apostles by the Holy Spirit. So Pentecost, and the season which follows, give us an opportunity to ask questions about the nature of the Church. Questions such as: What are we as believers supposed to become if we want to witness to the presence and the working of the Holy Spirit? 

           

On Pentecost Sunday, I worshipped with the congregation of St Monnica's in Midrand, north of Johannesburg, where we used the reading for the day from Ezekiel, in which the prophet is set in a valley that was full of dry bones. I call that passage my conversion passage, because growing up in Alexandra Township I recall vividly how the Revd Sam Buti, the schools chaplain in Alex, linked the image of the dry bones to the frequent gang killings that happened there. In particular, he warned us that one day all of Alex would be a valley of dry and dead bones if we didn’t pluck up the courage to root out the gangs.