Cape Town religious community joins march against corruption

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba was one of those who addressed the crowd at the end of the march, outside Parliament and the Presidency in Cape Town

Hundreds carried posters protesting against corruption.

The marchers gathered outside Parliament and against the backdrop of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral and Table Mountain.

Corruption entrenches inequality in South Africa, says Archbishop

Remarks by Archbishop Thabo Makgoba to the Anti-Corruption March in Cape Town:

My heart leaps with joy to see so many here who not only share our anger, but mostly our sadness.  Sadness that we have to express our universal frustration for the absence of moral leadership in South Africa by harnessing our collective voices to say, "enough is enough!".

I ask that we now observe a moment of silence, as we recall to mind our various journeys as South Africans, that have lead us here, as individuals, as a community of communities, and as a country.

It's time to stop marching against corruption. 

Yes, you heard me right. 

It's time to stop marching, having discourses and debates, writing and repeatedly speaking about being anti-corruption. Why?

Message from the Bishops to the People of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa

We, the Bishops of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, meeting on 13th and 14th September at the Kopanong Conference Centre in Benoni in the Diocese of the Highveld, wish to greet and report to our people across the Province.

At the Consecration of Mthetheleli Charles May as Bishop of the Highveld on 12th September, Bishop Peter Lee of the Diocese of Christ the King took as the springboard for his sermon the words of Jesus in his great prayer : ‘Father, they are your gift to me’ (John 17:26).

It is as the people of God are placed into our hands as gifts, for Bishops to pray for them, care for them and endeavour to lead them, that we find our vocation.

In these few days we have tried to do this in several ways.

On 11th September at the invitation of the Archbishop and of Lonmin, many of the Bishops undertook a pastoral visit to Marikana, where we toured the site of the killings of August 2012 and prayed together for the victims, their families, and the continuing community around the mine. We met some of those involved in working towards hope for the future and saw some of the projects which the company is undertaking to improve living and working conditions. We are invited to engage further and more deeply with that community as time allows.

On 12th September we exercised our liturgical and sacramental functions in the glorious service of Consecration and Enthronement of Bishop May in a vast tent at St Dunstan’s College in Benoni.

Our Synod meeting was brief as we prepare to enter into a two-day planning meeting for the Church, and then to carry the outcomes of those discussions to the Standing Committee on 17th and 18th. These too are part of our calling, to assist in developing vision for the Church and doing the responsible housekeeping which gives effect to such vision.

In our brief meeting the Bishops heard encouraging news –

• about the process of developing a new prayer book and related resources for transformational worship
• about education across the Province
• about theological education for future clergy
• about Anglicans Ablaze and the launch of a new way of approaching the stewardship of our resources, which is about to be reflected in new study
• materials for the Church.
• about the possibility of launching a community-level ministry of mediation across the Province
• about the next Anglicans Ablaze conference to be held in Cape Town 5-8 October 2016.

We went through all the portfolios carried by each Bishop, adjusted these in light of impending retirements and changes, and sorted out a rack of key dates for 2016.

We continued to wrestle with some of the challenging issues before us, including the best way to introduce pastoral guidelines for parishioners living in civil unions, and challenges to unity in some of the Dioceses.

At the conclusion we bade farewell to Bishop Mark van Koevering as he undertakes a new ministry in West Virginia, to Bishop Jo Seoka and to Bishop Rubin Philip, also Dean of the Province, as they will be retiring before we meet next. We give thanks to God for them and their ministries. 

Consecration and enthronement of the new Bishop of the Highveld

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town leads the Right Revd Mthetheleli Charles May from the service at which Bishop May was consecrated and enthroned as the Bishop of the Highveld. 

Bishop May blesses Archbishop Makgoba after the service, held in a huge marquee in the grounds of St. Dunstan's School in the Diocese on Saturday September 12, 2015.

Bishops pray at site of Marikana mine killings

Eleven bishops of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa visited Marikana Mine in the North-West Province of South Africa on September 11, 2015. At the scene of the killing by police of striking miners in 2012, they were briefed by officials of Lonmin, the company which owns the mine.

After the briefing, the bishops gathered at the foot of Wonderkop, the hill on which miners were killed in the first fusillade of police bullets. A number of bishops prayed for the miners, their families and the police, and Archbishop Thabo Makgoba ended the prayers with a blessing.

[Communicators: downloadable photos available here: http://bit.ly/1QvsV8e ]

Prayer for Refugees and Migrants - by Archbishop Thabo Makgoba

On the feast of the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary 2015

O God, give us tender hearts and restless minds,

to pray and act with open hearts and discerning minds.

O Christ, move us to ask profound questions,

about the plight of your people.

You know each one of them by name,

they are all yours.

Our hearts are torn Lord, because

some are running from fighting and violence,

some are running from hunger,

some are running from political persecution.

Why do you seem far off from them?

Holy Spirit of God,

help us to pray and act for refugees and migrants everywhere.

You know each of their situations,

whether forced to flee their homelands,

or displaced within the countries of their birth,

You care equally for every one of them,

whether from Syria or South Sudan,

Afghanistan or Zimbabwe,

Eritrea or Nigeria,

Burundi or the Central African Republic

You call upon us to extend Your embrace to all people,

Guide us, Lord, in opening ourselves to their plight in practical ways,

without fear or prejudice.

For your tender mercy's sake.

Amen