AFRICA: CAPA seeks new general secretary
[ENS, Source: CAPA] The Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA) is advertising for a new general secretary to be based in its office in Nairobi, Kenya.
CAPA was established in 1979 in Chilema, Malawi, by Anglican Primates in Africa who saw a need to form a coordinating body that would help in bringing the Anglican Communion in Africa together and articulating issues affecting the Church.
Details of the advertisement can be found online at: http://www.capa-hq..org/news_events.php?id=24.
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CANADA: Toronto congregation helps Mississippi church rebuild
by Marites N. Sison
[ENS, Source: Anglican Journal] When Hurricane Camille devastated the Gulf Coast on August 17, 1969, among the landmarks it destroyed in Biloxi, Mississippi, was the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, where only the bell tower survived.
Before the bulldozers ploughed away the debris, however, women parishioners painstakingly picked through the ruins for pieces of the church's exquisite stained glass windows that had been imported from Germany. Among the shattered pieces they recovered were images of Jesus' face and hands, lifted in an act of blessing.
The recovered glass became new works of art under the hands of Evelyn Pease, an artist trained in Germany. Some became part of a "Rose Window" behind a rebuilt Church of the Redeemer; others became part of the "Window of Hope," which art students from the Louisiana State University created with the help of their art instructor Paul Dufore, and Pease. The fragments with Jesus' face and hands became the "Window of the Redeemer" and depicted him with arms raised in welcome, a sun flare behind him. It was placed in the narthex of the church.
When Hurricane Katrina rampaged through the Gulf Coast in September, 36 years after Hurricane Camille, the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer again took a direct hit and this time, even the bell tower did not make it. But something else miraculously survived: The stained glass window with the welcoming image of Jesus.
"I can't comprehend it. No pews survived, but this 19th-century glass window did," said Rev. Harold Roberts, who became rector of the Church of the Redeemer more than eight years ago, after moving to Biloxi from Toronto, where his last parish was St. Timothy's church in Agincourt, Ontario.
Roberts and his congregation became aware that it survived when Biloxi Sun Herald photographer Tim Isbell photographed the stained glass window propped against the bumper of a truck, which was loading salvaged goods near the beachfront; it is now being held for safekeeping by a parishioner.
The story of the stained glass window that survived one of the worst natural disasters in American history has been like a beacon of hope for the Redeemer congregation, which has vowed to build a new, better church.
The congregation, which held a service at the church ruins the Sunday after the hurricane, is now worshipping in a public school. But Roberts said the congregation is looking at a two-year timetable for building a new church.
Full story: http://anglicanjournal.com/extra/news.php?newsItem=2005-10-12_a.news
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MOZAMBIQUE: From peace to health: Malaria is bishop's next target
[ENS, Source: Anglican Church of Canada] Popularly known for his leading role in Mozambique's peace talks, Anglican bishop Dinis Sengulane of the Mozambican diocese of Lebombo is now leading a fight against Mozambique's number one killer disease, malaria.
Malaria kills more people in Mozambique than HIV/AIDS, which is ravaging Africa. According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), "malaria accounts for around 35 per cent of all deaths among children under 5, and the high prevalence is a major contributing factor to Mozambique having one of the highest child mortality rates in the world."
On a recent visit to Canada, Bishop Sengulane, chair of the Mozambican Roll Back Malaria program, told staff at Church House that it is now imperative that the church get involved in the fight against malaria. "There is a growing need to train our catechists and lay leaders in basic health education," he said.
The Anglican Church of Canada, through the Anglican Appeal, has been supporting the training of lay leaders and catechists in the diocese, "but what we need now is to focus more on basic health education," said Sengulane.
Most training resources have been channeled towards HIV/AIDS and peace related programs. However, "fighting HIV/AIDS does not mean you abandon the fight against malaria," said Sengulane. "Malaria is a shortcut to kill people with HIV/AIDS, yet what causes malaria is preventable, it is curable and can be eradicated."
"In Mozambique alone, malaria takes the life of one child every 30 seconds," he said. "It was in that context that I undertook to be involved in the fight against malaria and accepted my nomination as chair of the Mozambique's Roll Back Malaria program."
The Roll Back Malaria program, initiated by 90 organizations including WHO, the UN Children's Fund, the UN Development Program and the World Bank, aims to cut malaria deaths in half in Africa by 2010. It is seeking to bring together civil society, religious groups, traditional leaders, banks and other groups in the fight against malaria.
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UGANDA: Bishop backs arrest warrants for Lord's Army rebels
By Fredrick Nzwili
[ENS, Source: Ecumenical News International] Northern Uganda Anglican Bishop Nelson Onono-Onweng is backing the issuing of arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court for five leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group, despite the apprehension of some that this could jeopardize peace mediation.
"We go by it," Bishop Onono-Onweng told Ecumenical News International from Gulu on October 11. "We had opposed it earlier because peace talks were going on, but that is over."
The bishop stressed, however, that churches in northern Uganda and southern Sudan would have to work hard to persuade the remaining rebels to peacefully lay down their weapons as he noted the government had informed him of its commitment to grant amnesty to them.
"These are only five [warrants]. The Church has the duty to bring the others to end the fighting," he said.
Hundreds of children are forced fighters in the LRA ranks. Church leaders in northern Uganda have expressed deep concern over the press-ganging of child soldiers.
"My prayer is that God changes their [LRA] hearts. With the Sudanese government, the United Nations, the Uganda army against them, that is a big force. They have to be prudent enough and change their heart. If they don't they will be killed," noted the bishop.
The International Criminal Court issued the indictments for the LRA commanders, including leader Joseph Kony and his deputy Vincent Otti, after starting investigations in 2004 of war crimes carried out during the 19 years of conflict. These are the first warrants issued by the court.
Peace mediator Betty Bigombe, a former Ugandan government minister, has been leading efforts to convince the LRA to accept President Yoweri Museveni's amnesty, but had reservations about the issuance of the arrest warrants.
"There is no doubt I need to make some adjustments, but the situation has been made difficult by the warrants," Bigombe told the UN's Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) in Bujumbura, the Burundi capital on 10 October.
The LRA has been fighting to gain control of Uganda, and is accused of widespread murders, torture and kidnapping. Thousands have been killed in the conflict and more than 1.5 million people displaced. Human rights groups say about 20,000 children have been kidnapped during the conflict in which government forces have also been accused of carrying out atrocities.
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ASIA: Presiding Bishop to visit at invitation of Anglican leaders; Hiroshima, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei among places of dialogue, pilgrimage
[ENS] At the invitation of Anglican leaders, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold will on October 18 begin a two-week visit that includes dialogue and pilgrimages in Hiroshima, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai and Taipei among other destinations.
Themes of International Anglican partnerships and reconciliation will in focus as the Presiding Bishop is welcomed by bishops and other leaders of the Anglican Church of Korea, the China Christian Council, the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, the Nippon Sei Ko Kai (Anglican Church in Japan), and the Diocese of Taiwan as part of the Episcopal Church’s Pacific Province (8).
While in Japan, the Presiding Bishop will visit Rikkyo University, one of the oldest private universities in Japan, founded in 1874 by U.S. Episcopal Missionary Bishop Channing Moore Williams. Formerly a men’s college, the university now enrolls more than 15,000 men and women and has developed a new Japanese language and culture program for foreign students. Rikkyo University is located in the northwestern part of the city of Tokyo.
Traveling with the Presiding Bishop will be his wife, Phoebe Griswold, who is scheduled to meet with various groups addressing the well-being of women worldwide.
Accompanying the Griswolds will be Margaret Larom, the Episcopal Church’s director of Anglican and Global Relations; the Rev. Brian Grieves, the Episcopal Church’s director of peace and justice ministries; Barbara Braver, the Presiding Bishop’s assistant for communication; and Canon Robert Williams, the Episcopal Church’s director of communication.
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PANAMA: Latin American theological group calls Communion to honor Anglicanism's middle way
[ENS] A majority of the bishops attending the Latin America Anglican Theological Congress meeting in Panama have signed a statement calling for the Anglican Communion to regain what they call the participatory and tolerant character that Anglicanism has always offered as the middle way within Christianity. The statement was developed at the congress' meeting in Panama City October 5-10.
In the statement, “Declaración de Panama,” the bishops criticized what they see as an effort to polarize biblical and theological discussions with labels that assign people to the Global North or the Global South. They said they feel they are being pressured to choose sides when, in fact, neither alternative fits their views.
The bishops who signed the statement instead suggest a Global Center that is rooted in the traditional middle way of Anglican inclusion and tolerance.
The statement also laments the exclusion of the Province of Brazil from the upcoming conference of global south Anglicans to be held in Alexandria, Egypt. The statement also criticizes the reception by the Primate of the Province of the Southern Cone of the deposed bishop and clergy from the Brazilian diocese of Recife.
John Kater, retired professor of ministry development at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, attended the meetings that produced the statement. He said the gathering was characterized by a solidarity across many potential dividing lines, including culture, race, nationality, and language.
“I’m excited about this statement because it represents a rejection of the incredible polarization of the Anglican Communion,” said Kater, who provided a paraphrase translation of parts of the statement. “It represents a common affirmation by people who have different opinions about specific issues and it affirms that communion goes beyond shared opinions.”
The statement was signed by the primates of Brazil, Mexico and Central America, six other Brazilian bishops, the majority of the bishops of Central America, all the bishops of Mexico, plus Western Ecuador, Venezuela, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Spanish and English versions of the statement have not yet been made available electronically.
The theological conference is a new initiative coordinated by a sub-commission of the Commission on Theological Education for Latin America and the Caribbean (CETALC).
"The Latin America Theological Congress came out of the commissions concern about the theological education in Latin America," the Most Rev. Martin Barahona-Pascasio, Primate of IARCA and Bishop of El Salvador recently told ENS.
"We know that there are good seminaries in the United States but the theological education in Latin America is more difficult. We have experienced that when we send students from Latin America to the United States to study, they don't want to come back. So we need to develop our own vision of theology in Latin America. This vision is of the viewpoint of globalization of the world," he said.
