Church Times report by Francis Martin: Next Bishop of Wolverhampton regrets part in non-canonical ordination
THE next Bishop of Wolverhampton, Dr Tim Wambunya, has apologised for the part he played in a non-canonical ordination of a bishop in Germany, saying that he merely wished to support a former student.
The service, which took place in Berlin in April, was billed as the ordination, as Bishop, of the Revd Wamare Juma, who founded and leads the Revealed Evangelical Mission. The organisation’s website describes it as a “non-denominational para-church”, and it has branches in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania as well as Germany…
…At the service in April, Dr Wambunya laid hands on Bishop Wamare Juma, led him through the declarations and ordination prayer from the Common Worship rite of ordination and consecration of a bishop, and presented him with a “certificate of ordination” which identified Dr Wambunya as the “ordaining bishop”.
On Tuesday, Dr Wambunya said that he took part in a personal capacity. “I did not for a moment imagine I was representing the Church of England, or even any other Anglican province, and I was not there in any official capacity,” he said…
Do read the full report, which includes comments from the Bishops of Oxford and Lichfield.
Also, you can watch the entire event here:
Video: ORDINATION OF BISHOP WAMARE JUMA
G-d, how they lie.
So they were just playing at dressing up and making bishops were they- what fun!
Remind me why this bloke is becoming a suffragan bishop?
Extraordinary. How can you ordain someone a bishop in a ‘personal capacity’?
Ordination is a power (in the scholastic sense of imposing a form onto something) that a bishop has, in the same way as a priest can confect a sacrament. As such, it is possible for a bishop with appropriate form, matter, and intent to ordain someone, regardless of what their church body or communion says (this is how we’ve ended up with so many Old Catholic groups; it only takes one bishop breaking off to spin up a whole new bunch of bishops).
At least he’s apologised. Anyone can accidently travel to Berlin, inadvertently dress as a Church of England bishop, and allow one’s hands to fall on a man’s head to make him a bishop. This could happen to anyone.
Don’t forget accidentally using the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England!
Well- he has learned the Church of England apology very quickly, and so well he has extended its scope beyond safeguarding.
He should stand down as probably should his diocesan- to-be for saying that his action has to be seen in the context of the African church….
But I’m not holding my breath, only my wallet
Courtesy of Rev Tom Sander:
I often have regrets…
I regret putting too much ketchup on
I regret leaving my glasses on the train
I regret getting a flat tyre
I regret the second Jägerbomb
I rarely, however, regret accidentally ordaining someone…
I wonder what the Bishop in Europe in whose Diocese this took place thinks of this? It must have been very embarrassing for him. I wonder if it shows a certain naivety on the part of the Bishop Designate. I think it also shows among some Evangelicals a lack of eccelesiology. Jonathan
Wishing to support a former student is an admirable thing. One might do so by attending, sitting in the congregation and supporting that person with one’s prayers. To actually ordain someone in an irregular way is quite another matter. It ought to prevent him taking up the post of Bishop of Wolverhampton, but I don’t suppose it will – after all, if there are consequences for this, someone might have to do something about the quasi-ordinations at Bishopgate.
No wonder I have heard a college referred to as Whackohill!!
If anyone was in any doubt (following the Langham Place and Bishopsgate services) that catholic order has collapsed in the Church of England, doubt no longer. 21 years ago, Jeffrey John was forced by conservative outcry to resign merely for being in a celibate relationship, despite never having broken any rules. Today, there are so many unpunished conservative breaches of church order that the bishops’ authority means nothing. There is clearly no one who both has the power and is willing to use it to end the existential threat posed by the Alliance.
There have been breaches on all sides; management processes have failed and led to a position that no one wants. Far from being an existential threat, the Alliance is offering a (the only) solution to end the threat of schism caused by revisionist bishops.
Actual schism to end the “threat” of schism? Do you even convince yourself with this stuff?
Would that the Alliance were an actual schism. That would involve returning their stipends, parsonages and church buildings!
Wow. What an extraordinary event. From his bio, Bishop Wambunya sounds experienced and well-qualified to serve as a bishop in the UK, but this is such a clear breach of canon law and failure to understand Anglican ecclesiology, that (quite aside from the issue of disciplinary proceedings), I would have thought the honourable thing for him to do would be to withdraw his acceptance from the Wolverhampton appointment, keep his head down, and perhaps hope (after a suitable period of reflection) to be appointed elsewhere in the future. As a serving vicar, I am genuinely shocked. Does the Church of… Read more »
Absolutely Charles. The apology is welcome, but the astounding level of ignorance of ecclesiology, Canon law, liturgical theology, sacramental theology, the bene esse of the polity and ordering of the Church of England, and the nature of representative ministry and authority makes him unfit to be a Bishop, in my view. In past roles, I was involved in selection and I wouldn’t expect to find this level of ignorance about ordination from a candidate attending a BAP, let alone from one who had completed initial training. Now a really interesting question is whether the unsuspecting free church minister he ordained… Read more »
A recent experience suggests the “astounding level of ignorance of ecclesiology, Canon law,” etc may be widespread. An ordinand at his ordination to the college of presbyters enquired if a Methodist minister who had been his mentor could join in the laying on of hands. When the answer was ‘no’, some of his cohort couldn’t understand why.
Sadly, I suspect you’re right. But if this is what we, as a denomination, think is acceptable from an experienced Bishop, I guess we can’t expect much at all from we lesser mortals.
That may be not so much ignorance as disagreement. If the Methodist was a presbyteral minister, why shouldn’t they lay on hands?
Janet, I fear you’ve rather made my point for me. I deliberately used ‘college of presbyters’ rather than ‘priesthood’ to stress that Anglican priestly ordinations are always into the diocese’s college of presbyters gathered, with the eucharistic community, around their bishop.
This collegiality is undermined somewhat when this role is usurped by the ordinand’s mates from outside the diocese, but at least they are in communion with Canterbury. Although it may reinforce our notoriously weak sense of ecclesiology and help explain why ordination is still often seen as a passport into a self-authenticating ministry.
I wonder if Janet was asking a different theological question, namely that we should recognise Methodist presbyters as presbyters in valid orders – we know the official Anglican answer to this is ‘no’ but some of us think this discussion is worth having.
I’ll let Janet answer that. My view is that our rejection of Anglican-Methodist re-unification in 1972 was a tragedy, one caused by our inability to accept a short-term compromise regarding those Methodists already in orders.
History tells us that the Church has been characterised by rupture and discontinuity as much as by re-unification and continuity. But, along with ecclesiology and Canon Law, history is for nerds.
Charles is right. I was asking a different theological question. In Local Ecumenical Projects, Anglican and Methodist presbyters minister alongside each other on an equal basis and in full communion with each other. Why, therefore, shouldn’t Methodist presbyters lay hands on Anglicans at ordination? This is not ignorance of ecclesiology, but disagreement over ecclesiology. I have always regarded my Methodist colleagues as on a par with me – and my best spiritual director was a sacramental Methodist. As for ‘Anglican priestly ordinations are always into the diocese’s college of presbyters gathered, with the eucharistic community, around their bishop’ – at… Read more »
Classic Anglican ecclesiology understands that the local church exists in the diocese gathered around its bishop. This does not rule out an assistant bishop standing in for the diocesan at ordinations, but not issuing tickets to at least some representatives from the diocese’s college of presbyters seems perverse. Who may join in the laying on of hands? Common Worship Ordination Services states (p180): “Only Anglican priests and priests of other churches which are in communion with the Church of England may be invited to participate in the laying on of hands. Occasionally a minister of another church who has been… Read more »
I was ordained long before Common Worship, but don’t have an ASB to check the rubric. As for diocesan priests not being invited, there simply wasn’t room – particularly at the Manchester ordinations in 1994. The cathedral is small, and there were over 30 of us, and a big demand for tickets to the first ordination of women to the priesthood. Besides, opposition to the ordinations was intense in Manchester, and a number of our fellow priests would not have wanted to be there. In fact, we were briefed on what to do if the service was disrupted by protesters… Read more »
‘I was ordained long before Common Worship, but don’t have an ASB to check the rubric.’ You shouldn’t need either, as I believe the passage in CW is supported by the Canons. ‘The whole idea of a college of presbyters seems hollow, when at diocesan conferences there are separate eucharists for those who don’t want to communicate alongside women, or receive the sacrament consecrated by a bishop who has ordained women.’ Agreed, a situation of our own making which doesn’t however vitiate collegiality as a principle. ‘As for more than one valid ecclesiology, catholics and evangelicals have very different ecclesiologies,… Read more »
You could pick almost any aspect of Anglican belief, and find a goodly number of Anglicans who don’t believe it – notwithstanding the ordinals and canon law. That’s as it should be, in my view. We are a broad church and a national church, and have room for Christians of all shades. That is both classically Anglican and serious. I believe the ‘college of presbyters’ ideology to be deeply unhealthy, contributing as it does, at its worst, to a kind of masonic brotherhood. It also militates against abuse by clergy being properly dealt with – as we have seen time… Read more »
Janet, it’s time for me to exit this conversation which is getting absurd and clearly going nowhere.
Thanks for the stimulating conversation. I wish you well!
Pax et bonum.
Thank you, Janet, for that timely reminder. I have worked for much of my ministry in a LEP and regard my Anglican and Methodist colleagues as doing precisely the same job as ministers of word and sacraments
As do I.
Not an Anglican problem?
Could you please help me by explaining the problem here, and reducing my own ignorance.
If the full contingent of C of E priests were present to make the ordination valid, then why would the addition of a Methodist minister be a problem here, if the minister was closely involved in the priests training? Would it cause damage to the process? Why could it not be an effective symbol of Christian cooperation?
Thank you.
While in no way causing ‘damage to the process’, it would represent a triumph of sentimentality over sound ecclesiology. Why not ask the Methodist minister to read a lesson or even to preach?
Not sentimentality, but generosity, an ecumenical spirit, and a recognition that we are all in the business of serving Christ and the people of God.
In the view of a lot of us, Jesus’ prayer that they ‘shall all be one’ trumps ‘sound ecclesiology’.
Just how is sound ecclesiology inimical to any of the above? By being honest about divisions in the Body of Christ – not masking them by ignoring what the Church believes (see the Ordinal and the Canons) – it should aid ecumenism, not hinder it.
Assuming the person ordained was a priest, then yes, they are now a valid bishop with Catholic – albeit irregular – orders. If not, then I guess it’s a matter of debate; I don’t know if the Church has *always* restricted itself to consecrating priests to be bishops.
This action cannot be acceptable. Nor can it be acceptable that the Bishop of Oxford sit on his hands at such a breach of Canon Law and Church practice. Steven Croft’s failure to take action raises many questions – In a similar way will no action be taken against those who commission missioners for parish without episcopal authority? When is it acceptable, Bishop, to ignore canon law, and when is it not? Is it not a schismatic act for a bishop to ordain outside his jurisdiction, and indeed outside his Communion? If it is not a schismatic act what is… Read more »
A further question: at what point did Lambeth Palace become aware of this? Did Wambunya or Croft inform them at the time? Did it come up during the due diligence before the Wolverhampton nomination? When did Lichfield find out?
That’s four senior bishops – Welby and Urquhart, Croft, Ipgrave who all decided or agreed that this was fine.
It looks like none of them actually knew precisely what he had done till a day or two ago.
Meanwhile did you spot that +Tim has named the All souls event for what it was…?
As far as I know you need at least three bishops to ordain a bishop, precisely to make it clear that this is an action of the Church not one person acting ‘in a personal capacity’. So Revd Juma isn’t a validly ordained bishop and Dr Wambunya shouldn’t be entrusted with the role of a suffragan in the Church of England since he clearly doesn’t understand the theology of ordination. I really wonder how this could have happened . Don’t we have competent people looking into a candidate’s theological qualifications any more? Where on earth did Wambunya train? (Don’t answer,… Read more »
I think having three bishops is a rule not a requirement.
I am ready to be corrected, but I think we believe that one bishop is sufficient to ordain someone bishop, but we always use at least three so that the act is clearly both valid and regular, the agreement of the Church being symbolised in the agreement of the three consecrators.
Stephen Bradley was consecrated bishop by one existing bishop only in 1958. He was to serve in the Church of England in South Africa (CESA), which of course was not the same as the Church of the Province of South Africa (CPSA). The below is copied from something I put on TA in 2022: ‘I can recall that in 1984 Dudley Foord, an Australian, was consecrated Bishop of the Church of England in South Africa. That was in St Andrew’s Cathedral Sydney and the chief consecrator was Archbishop Donald Robinson. A Bishop of the Church of the Province of South… Read more »
This is what Church of England Canon C 2. 2 actually says:
“C 2. 2 No person shall be consecrated to the office of bishop by fewer than three bishops present together and joining in the act of consecration, of whom one shall be the archbishop of the province or a bishop appointed to act on his behalf.”
Accepted, of course, that this applies to a consecration in the Church of England.
Incidentally, the examples of ‘single’ consecration quoted by others here pre-date the current Canons promulgated in 1969.
Consecration by a single bishop is valid but irregular. There are several known examples in the early English and Irish Church as well as in the 4th century Mediterranean world, despite various injunctions against it. In my view, bishops possess a very strong measure of the numinous, and I must suppose that the Reverend Mr. Juma will be the same though unable to function as any kind of clergyman in the Church of England.
‘In my view, bishops possess a very strong measure of the numinous’ – have you met any C of E bishops? I’ve known many, and none had a measure of the numinous. The C of E mostly selects people for not having it.
Fewer than you, I’m sure, but a few. They’re not particularly numinous at tea, I’ll admit, just when exercising their core functions.
Not even then.
Janet, we often disagree but currently you have a point.
But an exception is Rowan Williams.
Yes – definitely agreed with the exception.
Jane, as I understand it, it only takes one validly ordained bishop to consecrate another bishop. The custom and practise of having three bishops has developed simply to provide redundancy, to ensure that the consecration is still valid if, for any unlikely reason, one or two of the consecrating bishops are defective in some way and have no powers to pass on. So a consecration by a single validly ordained bishop is valid. If I was one of Dr Wambunya’s priests I might be tempted to offer to lead same-sex marriage services, and then if challenged to apologise and say… Read more »
Simon, I believe, although I’m not an expert, that you’re right in one sense. When three bishops consecrate, the grace of orders is deemed to flow through each of them severally not just all of them jointly. So if one bishop consecrated alone you could claim that whatever happens had happened. That has been argued both for and against at different times in history and in different places. But validity is about more than an episcopal abracadabra. A key reason for having more than one bishop is to improve the chances that the ordination is being carried out according to… Read more »
The consecration appears to have been carried out according to the mind and will of the Revealed Evangelical Mission, if not of the Church of England.
Jane, thanks for your fuller analysis, which I find helpful. It’s a complex mix of ecclesiology, canon law, sacramental theology and what you call “episcopal abracadabra” (a well chosen phrase in my book).
I suppose the question is, if action is taken against Dr Wambunya for a well intentioned but unwise and irregular ordination, how can it be possible to ignore other much more deliberate and knowing irregular ordinations, such as those at St Helens Bishopsgate? To sanction one and ignore the other would surely raise questions.
Best wishes
Simon, my reading of the situation, which may be wrong, is that the Archbishops and others have decided to treat the Bishopsgate thing as posturing for now. Kind of like Putin moving his nuclear weapons up to the border but not actually firing any of them. There’s just enough of a thin grey line to make that possible. It’s odds on that the situation will escalate requiring a response in the end but we’re not quite at that point yet. Wambunya, on the other hand, has crossed a line in a way that does seem to require a response and… Read more »
I think the precedent (in the Christian West at least) would be the episcopal ordinations undertaken by Lefebvre in 1988 which were seen as valid but, schismatic and illicit (i.e. non-canonical) on the basis that they did not have papal approval. The result was Lefebvre’s automatic excommunication. Of course, Roman Canon Law does not have authority in the Church of England, but much of our sacramental and ecclesiological inheritance is shared. As papal approval is not a requirement for Anglican orders (!), and the King’s approval is not required outside England, I suspect the Berlin consecration may be able to… Read more »
Valid but nor regular?
Thank you for the various opinions on the question I posed above. My view, notwithstanding the C of E Canonical requirement for three Bishops, is that valid but irregular Orders were indeed conferred through this ordination, whether or not the minister receiving them intended that. That’s why I criticise +Wolverhampton elect for his seeming level of theological ignorance, and am of the opinion that an apology, welcome though it is, without any form of disciplinary action is insufficient to address what has been done.
Personally I am not too vexed by the service itself, although I appreciate others don’t share my equanimity. I do think the “apology” and explanation are disturbing, however, in the lack of understanding they appear to show.
As ever there’s one rule for the little people and another for bishops and rich posh people. From my trade union work I know that bishop’s staff meetings can pursue parish clergy for minor indiscretions with the full force of the CDM. Even with this egregious breach of church order, there’ll be no disciplinary action for Bishop Wambunya because if they disciplined a black bishop they’d have to do likewise for the white elite at All Souls Langham Place and St Helen’s Bishopsgate.
Steve Croft’s statement that no disciplinary action would be taken seems extraordinary. A few years ago I asked a Diocesan Registrar what would happen if I said yes to a family member who had invited me to officiate at her wedding to her same sex partner in a Scottish Episcopal Church and was told that I would “definitely be on the naughty step”. I sadly was therefore unable to share in this joyful occasion as a priest. At the time that felt personally hurtful, but the lack of disciplinary action against a Bishop who has clearly breached Canon Law over… Read more »
Absolutely unbelievable. Having just watched this charade on youtube I am even more disturbed at Wabunga’s classic ‘non-apology’, the inaction of both Croft & Ipgrave, and the silence of ABC &Y. The video makes it clear that Wabunga knew exactly what he was doing, and that he cannot claim to have been acting in a purely personal capacity. On camera he specifically states that he is thrilled to “ordain him bishop” as this is “the third man of this year group whom he trained that is now a bishop”. The congregation knew exactly what was happening & why they had… Read more »
I think you will find that Tim Wambunya was a student of Tim Dakin when the latter was Principal of Carlile College.
Interesting that the question has not been asked as to why Tim Wambunya left being a diocesan bishop in Kenya to become vicar of a parish in Slough.
Murkier still. The question of the validity of Tim Dakin’s orders has never been fully answered, has it?
As far as Wambunya is concerned, I simply don’t see how this appointment can go ahead
Tim Dakin was made a Deacon in All Saints Cathedral Nairobi by the Archbishop of Kenya on 7th November 1993. He was Priested by the Archbishop in the same cathedral on 31st July 1994.
The answer to your question Philip appears to be given in a Kenya newspaper published at the time he made the move: In his resignation letter to ACK Archbishop Jackson ole Sapit, Wambunya cites the need to be with his family as the reason for leaving service in the Kenyan Province of the Anglican Communion. Wambunya holds dual citizenship and his two sons are students in the UK. Dr Sapit acknowledged receiving the letter and recommending Wambunya for his new posting. “Bishop informed us that they had resolved as a family to be united and being in the UK with… Read more »
The way the Bishops involved are playing this down and taking no action is shameful. What happened? A Church of England bishop took his bishop’s robes, order of service for making a bishop, and LED (not just ‘took part in’) an ordination service of a man in Germany. He issued a document of ordination after the service. He did so without the authority of his own bishop (Oxford) the Bishop of the jurisdiction (Europe) or any other bishop. The ordination was irregular but not invalid and so Wamare Juma is a Church of England bishop now thanks to +Tim Wambunya.… Read more »
The certificate was issued in the name of the Revealed Evangelical Mission, not of the C of E. I don’t see how that makes Bishop Wamare a C of E Bishop.
I don’t think that I, or my congregation, become Baptists, Methodists, Roman Catholics, or members of the Iona Community whenever I use a liturgy from those churches and communities.
Nevertheless, Bp Tim’s behaviour was inconsistent with his being a bishop in the C of E and he should step down.
Bishop Wamare has been consecrated as a bishop according to the rites and ceremonies of the CofE, but the CofE has generally taught, as I understand it, that the denominational flavour of the consecrator does not make a particular flavour of bishop, but a validly ordained bishop in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. Hence Roman Catholic bishops can be received into the CofE as bishops (probably hasn’t happened for some time!) and Old Catholic bishops can join Anglican consecrations without making those consecrated Old Catholics.
Please see my comment above quoting Canon C 2. 2. I offer no opinion about the validity, or otherwise, of the ceremony in Berlin, but it cannot be said to comply with the current (and surely binding) rites and ceremonies of the C of E.
Indeed. That is why I was very careful, when I posed the question, to write ‘Anglican’ orders rather than ‘C of E’ – it broadens the question and heightens the inherent ambiguity of what took place. The Orders conferred, if any, would be those of the line/authority which is held by the person conferring them. So in that understanding, the Orders would be Anglican and would be derived from those of the Anglican Province in which the conferring Bishop was first consecrated Bishop and the C of E, by virtue of his licence as an Assistant Bishop. But as they… Read more »
The certificate of ordination says that Bp Wamare was consecrated a bishop of the Revealed Evangelical Mission, not of the C of E. I couldn’t hear the service well enough to know whether Bp Tim omitted those words and phrases of the liturgy pertaining to the Church of England, but it seems clear he had no intention of ordaining him bishop in the C of E.
But he is also a man under authority, and has promised to use only the forms of service authorized or allowed by canon. This service was not one authorized or allowed by canon, so his participation was uncanonical and unlawful.
If you’ve read my previous comments, I’ve made it clear that in my view Bp Tim has been guilty of serious disobedience and should stand down from his new appointment.
I was responding above only to the apparent assumption of some that having been consecrated by a C of E bishop makes Bp Wamare a C of E bishop.
By Bp Tim’s own account, he was ambushed with an ordinal. He had expected to take part in the service as one among several, not to preside at it. That put him in an extremely difficult situation, as to withdraw in those circumstances would no doubt lead to the cancellation of the event, inconveniencing and upsetting a number of people, and to accusations that he had betrayed his friend and mentee. Nor would his reasons have been readily understood by people who were not Anglicans and not subject to Church of England discipline. I have some sympathy for Bp Tim’s… Read more »
“I note that the man to his right in the photo is wearing a purple shirt and appears to be taking part in the consecration”.
Explained in the YouTube short narrative: “ Ordination by Bishop Timothy Wambunya from United Kingdom, Envisioning by Bishop Sammy”.
I have no idea what ‘envisioning’ means in this context
Thanks, Rowland. My hearing aid couldn’t cope with the echo in the building and the quality of the recording.
Odd considering the Anglican Church left the Roman Church for political reasons of the King, AND Old Catholic Churches are recognized and accepted according to Canon 9 of the Anglican Communion.
Our presiding bishop is often in Rome conferring with the Holy Father and was part of the funeral for Pope Benedict.
Your point being?
There was an earlier comment alleging Old Catholic churches were the result of people like Wambunya. That was an astonishing attack on Old Catholics, perhaps to deflect criticism away from Welby and Croft. Very sad.
As a former member of the Crown Nominations Commission, may I ask if Bishop Wambunya can give assurance that all the appropriate safeguarding and criminal background checks were completed for the candidate before he, as a bishop of the Church of the England, using a Church of England rite, acted as the episcopal consecrator at this service? This is a serious question which needs an answer from him, and from the Bishops of Oxford and Lichfield, as anyone exercising episcopal ministry in the Church of England should be demonstrating competence and leadership in the area of safeguarding.
Couldn’t agree more. I hope this question will be put in writing to +Lichfield
From my reading of the news of this irregular consecration, it appears neither +Oxford (who seems to have known about the service in Germany but was insufficiently curious to ask for details) nor +Lichfield knew the full facts in advance of the nomination being announced (hopefully in advance of the nomination letter being sent to Downing Street). But that should be scant solace. Best practice due diligence dictates that candidates (and their referees) must be probed beforehand. Is there anything in your background which, were it to come into the public domain, might be capable of bringing the Church of… Read more »
… ordination …
I’ve been ruminating on this comment and would be interested to hear from those with more detailed knowledge whether anybody else thinks the consecratory actions taken in Germany demonstrate a failure to comply with the requirement imposed by the code under Section 5A of the Safeguarding & Clergy Discipline Measure 2016? (They certainly contravene the Canons, but I’m not sure about the Safeguarding canon). Part of the issue is that the Code rather assumes an English context. Safer Recruitment and all of its attendant duties eg. DBS checks and basic/foundation/leadership safeguarding training also assumes that the volunteer or ordinand will… Read more »
I hope that what has happened is a wake-up call about the seriousness of problems which have arisen because key facets of Anglicanism in place since the late 19th century have been eroded. The key issue for me is not blocking Tim Wambunya from becoming the next bishop of Wolverhampton but rather urgent action to ensure that nothing of this kind happens again, unless as an intentional embrace of schism, which I accept was almost certainly not what was intended. I am in favour of advancing ecumenism. But not only did an assistant bishop in Oxford apparently ordain someone on… Read more »
This would have been very serious, and an apology to African bishops necessary, if Bp Wumare had been consecrated an Anglican bishop. But are the Revealed Evangelical Mission in direct competition with the Anglican churches? Might there not be room for mission work by a number of agencies?
If he had been simply blessing a bishop in another denomination, that would have been a different matter; there is indeed space for different denominations in any province. But I think being certified as an ordaining bishop raises issues of concern unless it has been clarified that this is not meant to compete with or undermine the role of the relevant provincial and diocesan leadership. That this C of E bishop apparently trained, commissioned and mentored Wamare Juma before using the Common Worship liturgy to consecrate him as a bishop to head a church in these parts of the world… Read more »
You have a point.
But Janet a bishop of one denomination cannot make a person a bishop in another one. They ordain only to their own church. Otherwise CofE bishops could, say, ordain people to be RC bishops!!
The Revealed Evangelical Mission are not bound by Anglican or RC ecclesiology. They operate outside that framework.
I am still rather nonplussed by the Bishop of Lichfield’s apparently casual attitude to what took place, after an incident with repercussions beyond the Church of England. An assistant bishop in Oxford apparently ordained a bishop in another denomination who will minister in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, as well as the Diocese of Europe. Unless the relevant provincial and diocesan authorities formally agreed, this goes against the Anglican Communion structures in place since Lambeth 1878. Senior clergy in the C of E cannot simply override the authority of other Anglican churches across the globe. While I can understand if leniency… Read more »
Savi, This also is the behaviour condemned in the Windsor Report. I am urgently contacting members of the HoB in Tanzania. It would be hoped that the C of E had contacted the HoB in Kenya and Uganda as well as Tanzania to ensure clarity, but I doubt they even thought of that.
I remember when I was a DDO a parish appointed a priest ordained in the C of E in South Africa. The bishop asked me to look into it. I contacted Lambeth. They said this has implications for our relationships with the Church of the Province and we didn’t accept his orders. I then after meeting the man contacted at his request Church House. Church House said that Abp Coggan had decreed it was ok. My bishop gave him a PTO but didn’t licence him. I think this has subsequently been sorted out but it did show me we are… Read more »
I think that for a short period in the 1930s a clerk having been ordained in CESA was attached (not as the incumbent) to a church in the Manchester diocese. It would have been in Bishop Guy Warman’s time at Manchester. He was preceded by Temple and followed by Greer (both ‘William Manchester’).
I think the priest concerned is now Archdeacon of Croydon
We “muddle through on a number of ecclesiological issues which should be clearer if we are desiring to be taken seriously as a Church.” A muddle which doesn’t stop with ‘the lower clergy’ (with apologies to Trollope).
You can bet that if this had been an ordination of someone in same sex marriage there would have been a massive outcry from conservatives and the pressure to withdraw from the appointment would have been applied very swiftly.
Once again I am reminded that the forced withdrawal of Jeffrey John was a watershed moment in the CofE. Since that episode Conservative Evangelicals have sensed that power is theirs for the taking.
Andrew, not a watershed moment but the watershed moment. I had just come back from being put in when news broke that the bullying by a group of Conservative Evangelicals had won, diminishing a fine archbishop along the way and causing this insignificant parish priest to wonder if he should carry on. I’m glad I didn’t throw in the towel, but our church has never recovered it’s credibility. Kyrie eleison.
Too true. They realised the rest of the church was too frit to stand up to them and have pushed and pushed ever since.
I might ask Bishop Wambunya to ordain me bishop. I will promise to perform my Episcopal acts in a purely personal capacity and never to represent the Church of England or any.other province.
So that’s all right then.
I’m thinking of being made a Cardinal on the internet and just dressing like that and calling myself that. After all, who cares who gives which orders to whom and how they’re conferred? That’s right isn’t it?
I don’t think the AC ( or His Holiness) would like it much if you were female or in a gay marriage – so I guess you are ok- as long as you are conservative enough of course
Dr. Wambunya apologizes for an irregular ordination, becomes bishop.
It’s a coincidence …. right?
Too many higher-ups in the CofE are tap-dancing as fast as they can to distract the rubes, er, its membership.
An interesting thing I discovered this evening online, I came across an article from the Star and it seems from this article that this is not the first time that the Bishop Designate of Wolverhampton Dr Wambunya has been involved in controversy. I read an article headed” Bishop told to keep off Butere Girls Financial Affairs”. It seems that when Dr Wambunya was Bishop of Butere in Kenya, he went into a school in his Diocese and removed all the Financial records from the school and the Director of Education of the Local Kenyan County the school was based in,… Read more »