The Church Times reports: Williams to visit Zimbabwe as harassment continues.
And Ekklesia has a report from ENInews headlined Anglican leader to seek meeting with Mugabe in Zimbabwe.
An earlier Church Times report said: Kunonga looks over the border as evictions bite.
And there was this ACNS report: Zimbabwe Anglican Church fights to reclaim its properties and end attacks.
The Church of England Newspaper has Mugabe meeting for Archbishop Williams and earlier Anglican clergy under siege in Harare.
Every man has his price? Is Rowan Williams off to assure President Robert Mugabe there are no ¨liberal attitudes¨ offered toward homosexuals at The Anglican Communion and ++Rowan ONLY wants Anglican properties back? One only need glance at the pending Anglican Covenant to know that ongoing injustice directed toward LGBT Anglicanos is intended to force ¨no liberal attitudes¨ to become truth. Wouldn´t it be wise/honest and better to get to the bottom of the real excuse for the unthinkable and vile behavior directed against some of the *others* at the Body of Christ? Some of the others like LGBT Anglicans… Read more »
That’s an appallingly self-obsessed post Leonardo. The Anglican Church in Zimbabwe is under real persecution. Not only is property being stolen, but church services are routinely interfered with or banned under the draconian Public Order and Security Act, and many Anglicans live under constant threat of physical assault and torture whether due to church activities or civil society activism. The Church has consistently refused to bend the knee to Moloch (aka Robert Mugabe) and has paid a heavy price for it. People have been called to be faithful – even unto death. I’m astonished at the degree of ignorance of… Read more »
That’s an appallingly self-obsessed post Leonardo¨ GL Oh no, ¨appallingly self-obsessed!¨ I must have misunderstood the BASIC RATIONALIZED reasoning/thrust for the takeover, thieving and oppression/outcasting and beatings of our sister and brother ANGLICANS at the Anglican Church of Zimbabwe: ¨In Zimbabwe, the usurpation of the Anglican Church continues as widespread homophobia is used to fuel a schism that favours supporters of dictator Robert Mugabe.¨ Stephen Gray Nobert Kunonga is concerned about ¨Liberal Attitudes regarding Homosexuality at the Anglican Communion¨ (Good that perhaps the ABC will set the record ¨straight¨ and explain the pending/punitive Anglican Covenant in depth). ¨Kunonga told the… Read more »
Truth is that all sides hurt, though the hurt may be difficult to quantify, and it could be a relative matter in any case. The situation in Pennsylvania and Zimbabwe does have similarities, and indeed great differences. Abp Williams’ visit is an opportunity for dialogue perhaps; but, as in Pennsylvania, when lines are already decided upon, charity and reason may not be effective tools for mending anything that might actually matter. Nonetheless the people of Zimbabwe will appreciate the indication that they are not ‘forgotten’ by the wider Anglican Communion, whoever they are.
MrC
“[Presiding Bishop] Jefferts Schori’s comparison of the situation faced by the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe with Episcopal Churches dealing with Bobby Duncan’s minions in Texas”
Citation please?
As with any set of cases, there are parallels and differences between the situation in Zimbabwe and the matter of the North American dissidents. In both cases, clerics who rejected the discipline of their church have seized property. In that respect, the only real difference between North American schismatics and Nolbert Kunonga is that the North Americans don’t have an evil dictator controlling the courts and the police on their behalf. Beyond that one parallel, there is simply no comparison. The state apparatus in Zimbabwe is engaged in a persecution of the Church unlike anything ever seen or experienced in… Read more »
So sad to hear of what’s been happening in Zimbabwe. I visited my missionary grandparents out there, when I was 7. Thanks for this helpful post.
JCF From: http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/79425_129307_ENG_HTM.htm ‘”They have experienced the same kind of thing as congregations in Fort Worth and San Joaquin,” she noted, referring to attempts by former leaders in those places to take ownership of diocesan property and leave loyal Episcopalians without a spiritual home.’ There’s another statement more specifically focused on Zimbabwe that I’m by no means underplaying what Bobby Duncan and his minions are up to. I don’t like them, I don’t like what they stand for, I don’t think they have any right to Episcopal Church property. But comparing the situation in Texas with Zimbabwe is just stupid.… Read more »
Gerry, while there is no comparison about the use of violence, the legal fictions involved are exactly parallel. How helpful this parallel is in a given context is an open question, but insofar as both involve theft of property by deposed clerics falsely claiming a divine mandate, it is a parallel. The only weakness in the Presiding Bishop’s comment is that she doesn’t (in that excerpt at least) acknowledge the one significant difference – that the North American thieves did not have the active and armed assistance of the sate.
The Visit will present a logical opportunity for the ABC to confront the Mugabe Administration with the question of the legality of governmental interference in the affairs of the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe – especially in the light of the recent spurious charges against the Revd Julius Zimbudzana, accusing him of alienating Church property claimed by the former (schismatic) Bishop, Nolbert Kunonga.
One wonders whether Archbishop Rowan will be requesting an audience with Bp. Kunonga, as well as with the legitimate Bishop, Chad Gandiya.
Gosh! And this story makes banner headlines on the front page of The Times today!! Must have been a bad news day ….. You don’t often get weekly trade papers a couple of weeks ahead of of quality daily! Still, it rather sets Rowan up for the fall, I can just read the press release now: “Mugabe shuns “failed” Church leader” The President withdrew from a meeting with Archbishop Williams today saying: “This man has destroyed his worldwide Church, I don’t think he has anything to say to us. Orthodox Anglican bishops like bishop Kunonga are joined together throughout the… Read more »
Martin, do tell me you’re joking here!
If so, perhaps you need to caution readers with some sign of the fact.
No, not joking, rather I am speculating what a morally bankrupt leader might say and at the same time hopefully demonstrating how all these so called “orthodox” Anglicans have given the likes of Mugabe his excuses for evil.