Episcopal Press and News
News Briefs
Episcopal News Service. May 3, 2001 [2001-101]
Australian archbishop to be nation's next Governor-General
(ENS) Anglican Archbishop Peter Hollingworth has been appointed the 23rd Governor-General of Australia.
The appointment has sparked a debate on the separation between church and state and renewed controversy on the relevance of the British monarch to modern-day Australia. Under the constitution, Queen Elizabeth II is Queen of Australia. The Governor-General is the representative of the Head of State of Australia, who is the British monarch. But unlike the Church of England in Britain, whose head is also the monarch, the Anglican church in Australia is an autonomous body with its own national constitution.
Although he will be the first Australian clergyperson to hold the post, Hollingworth would not be the first Anglican archbishop to become Governor-General of a member nation of the British Commonwealth. Sir Paul Reeves, formerly Anglican archbishop of Aotearoa, served as Governor-General of Aotearoa-New Zealand and was the first person of Maori descent to hold that post.
Hollingworth will take up his appointment on June 29. He has been archbishop of Brisbane since 1990, was executive director of the Brotherhood of St. Laurence from 1980 to 1990, Australian of the Year in 1992 and Father of the Year in 1987.
The primate of the Anglican Church of Australia, Archbishop Peter Carnley, said in a statement that Hollingworth is now eligible to retire from active ministry, which "frees him to accept an appointment in the service of the nation."
Hollingworth will continue to serve as archbishop of Brisbane until June 24, when he will "lay up his pastoral staff" on the altar of St John's Cathedral in Brisbane. "At that time he will cease to be the archbishop and will no longer use the title," Carnley said.
The bishops of Canberra and Goulburn were quoted by the Australian media as saying the appointment could be perceived as giving inappropriate power to the church.
But Prime Minister John Howard said he had thought about the implications of appointing a clergyman to be governor-general. "We are a secular state in constitutional terms ... I thought about all of that, but I came to the conclusion that it would be patently absurd to disbar an eminent Australian by reason alone of the fact that he was an ordained minister.''
Peru's churches want inquiry into why missionary plane was shot down
(ENI) Church leaders are demanding an in-depth investigation into a controversial accident in which the Peruvian air force opened fire on a Cessna floatplane carrying missionaries April 20.
The Peruvian officers mistakenly thought that the plane, flying from the Colombian border towards the city of Iquitos, was ferrying drug traffickers. Two of the passengers, an American missionary from the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE), Veronica "Roni" Bowers, and her seven-month-old daughter, Charity, were killed instantly when bullets tore through the fuselage.
The pilot of the plane was able to make an emergency landing despite gunshot wounds to both legs. Bowers' husband and six-year-old son were unharmed.
"We were deeply shocked, scandalized," said Anglican bishop William Godfrey of Lima. "Who makes one group lord over someone else's life? To shoot down a plane is to condemn its occupants to death without giving them the benefit of the doubt." The bishop added that it was essential that every effort be made to keep anything similar from happening in the future.
"It was an absurd, excessive use of force," said Godfrey. "If it had happened on the ground you would stop the vehicle, ask questions. You would not attack with heavy machinery."
A US surveillance plane, operated by three Central Intelligence Agency employees, alerted the Peruvian air force to the presence of the plane, which they believed to be flying without a flight plan over an area rife with smuggling activity. But US officials say the CIA crew protested the speed of the interception.
After months of bitter argument, Harare has a new Anglican bishop
(ENI) The consecration of Norbert Kunonga as the Anglican Bishop of Harare on April 29 has ended months of argument between him and a rival clergyman for the position of bishop. The argument exposed a wide division in clergy attitudes to the troubled government of Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe.
Bishop Kunonga, a 49-year-old black priest and theology lecturer at the Africa University in Mutare, east of Harare, succeeds Bishop Jonathan Siyachitema, who retired last October.
Timothy Neill, former vicar-general of the diocese, had been fighting since last December to have Kunonga's nomination overturned. Neill, a 47-year-old white priest and prominent critic of the Mugabe government, claimed that the procedure contravened church laws and was "tainted" by racism against whites.
Neill was among three short-listed candidates submitted to the assembly convened in December to elect the new bishop.
Kunonga was not on the list. According to the Star newspaper, published in South Africa, Neill's supporters alleged in December that supporters of the Mugabe government blocked Neill's election and engaged in intense lobbying for Kunonga.
Neill said that the clergyman who nominated Kunonga should have been disqualified because he had circulated a letter at the December assembly accusing Neill of racism. However, a 12-member church court unanimously confirmed Kunonga's election, brushing aside Neill's objections that he had been slandered.
Neill did not attend the ceremony. He told ENI last week that he was leaving for the United States to visit his brother-in-law who was seriously ill. Harare's Herald newspaper reported that a number of Anglican priests and parishioners were also conspicuous by their absence.
Dr. Bernard Malango, the Zambia-based Archbishop of the Anglican Province of Central Africa, who presided at Kunonga's consecration, told the congregation of 4000: "People come to church to hear the word of God and not politics. Those who want to get into politics should do so during their own spare time, and not use the church as a springboard for their ambitions. As members of the church, we are supposed to be speakers of the speechless. This means we have to represent everyone, regardless of their political affiliation."
Neill was removed as vicar-general of the diocese in February when the diocese's standing committee passed a vote of no confidence in him. However, he is still rector of the parish of St Luke's in Greendale, Harare, despite pressure on him to leave the church. He has led the parish's mainly black congregation of 800 since 1985.
Neill said recently that he had received death threats from people he suspected were government supporters.
Five Anglicans in court after 'rescuing' teenagers from arranged marriages
(ENI) Five Anglicans-two priests and three laymen-will appear in court in northern Nigeria May 17, charged with abducting two teenage sisters who were going to be forced into arranged Muslim marriages in an area of the country which applies strict Islamic law.
The Anglicans claim that the girls are practicing Christians who sought shelter in their church.
Four years ago, their father, who had been an animist all his life, converted to Islam and insisted that the girls, then aged 12 and 13, do the same so that Muslim husbands could be found for them. When they refused, their uncle took them to the district headman and imam. They were allegedly kept at the headman's house for six days and told they were possessed by spirits.
They escaped and were taken by one of the laymen now facing charges to a parish church in Tudun Wada. Soon afterwards, the two sisters were sent to the house of one of their aunts.
Abduction carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison under Nigerian civilian law.
Bishop Zakka Nyam of Kano told ENI that the court case was proof that Sharia (Muslim) law-officially separate from civil law in northern Nigeria-was filtering into the legislature as a result of pressure from Muslim extremists. "Sharia is spreading everywhere," Nyam said. "Life here is increasingly like living under a jihad [a holy war by Muslims against unbelievers]."
He said that ''Islamic law is becoming a real test to us, and Christians in the area are becoming frightened. ''
Kano is one of nine northern Nigerian states which, since the advent of civilian rule in Nigeria in 1999, have invoked their constitutional right to put into practice the strict sacred law of Islam embracing all aspects of a Muslim's life. Prostitution, gambling and alcohol have been banned, and thieves can be taken before an Islamic court and sentenced to amputation.
In Sharia states, Muslim vigilante groups known as ''hisba'' operate alongside the national police force.
Northern Nigeria is predominantly Muslim. Kano is the third biggest city in the country, with significant Christian communities, including about 20,000 Anglican residents.
Navy pilot says prayer important for crew detained in China
(ENI) Prayer was an important part of each day when a U.S. Navy reconnaissance plane crew was detained in the People's Republic of China, said Commander Shane Osborn, a Lutheran who piloted the plane.
"We all prayed as a group prior to each meal," Osborn said in a telephone interview just before his homecoming parade in Norfolk, Nebraska. "I prayed several times a day--a long one before going to sleep at night, and before each interrogation."
When asked if offering prayer was part of his responsibilities as a commander, he replied, "It's my responsibility as a human being."
Osborn explained that the crew used the term "God" in prayers, and offered to crew members the option not to be part of the group prayers, but all participated.
The 26-year-old lieutenant is not a member of a congregation. "I travel so much as a pilot with the Navy," Osborn said. Whether or not one is a part of a faith community "doesn't mean you've lost faith," he added. "You have the same beliefs you've always had even if you're not an active member of a congregation."
Anti-apartheid activist Leon Sullivan dead at age 78
(ENI) The Rev. Leon Sullivan, one of the leading American activists in the struggle against South Africa's apartheid system, died April 25 at the age of 78. He was best known for creating in 1977 what came to be known as the Sullivan Principles, a set of ethical guidelines for corporations doing business in South Africa, based on a pledge to oppose apartheid and practice racial non-discrimination. His work on the principles grew out of his experience as the first black member of the board of General Motors.
The principles called for racial desegregation in the workplace, equal pay for equal work, and the promotion of non-whites, as well as improved housing, education, recreation and health facilities for workers.
Sullivan eventually abandoned the principles because he concluded that they did not go far enough, arguing that the South African government at the time was not doing enough to end apartheid. In the 1980s he called on corporations to pull out of the country and pushed for sanctions. "There is no greater moral issue in the world today than apartheid," he said in 1987. "Apartheid is against the will of God and humanity."
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said that Sullivan "showed us all how much one individual can do to change lives and societies for the better." Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson described Sullivan as "a tremendous source of hope and vitality and moral authority."
Germany's newest female bishop wants to be ecumenical
(ENI) Lutheran Bishop Barbel Wartenberg-Potter, Germany's third female bishop, said after her April installation that it was time for churches to "empower women and prepare them for leadership."
Invited to give the Bible study at the European Ecumenical Assembly in Strasbourg, a gathering of church leaders from all the main denominations in the country, she introduced herself by pointing out that "not all of you will be happy that there is another woman bishop." However, she then invited her Roman Catholic and Orthodox colleagues "to share with me your wisdom as bishops, for I want to be an ecumenical bishop." She added that her installation could be seen as "a witness that some churches take the issue very seriously and have given women responsibility in leadership."
The visibility of women in leadership roles, especially in the ecumenical movement, had done much "to persuade those who do not ordain or give women leadership that it is possible." She stated her commitment to "enabling and enhancing dialogue across confessional barriers," helping local churches to realize that "common witness can be done only ecumenically if it is to be credible."
Diocese of Mississippi launches evangelism emphasis
(ENS) "This old church of ours has lost its focus as a place in which God can be engaged and the power of God becomes real to us," Bishop Duncan M. Gray III told a conference on evangelism at is opening session April 24. "Evangelism is not a program of the church-it is the essence of the church."
Gray said that the conference was "the first public celebration" of a church growth movement. The diocese is part of a New Start Coalition, associated with the Seabury Institute at Seabury-Western Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, started by Prof. Arlin Rothauge in 1995.
"If we are going to start new congregations, to invigorate our congregations, to move back into the mainstream of American society, vision is going to have to be our starting point," he told the conference. Yet he admitted that new vision is not always welcome and can create tensions among different parts of the established church.
"We are going to try a new way, to take some risks," said Gray, who was elected bishop coadjutor less than a year ago. That could mean risking some financial resources, attempting to establish some new models for being the church, as well as choosing leaders based on a different set of criteria. "If this is done right, there will be a substantial effect-like a tidal wave hitting this church," he said.