Updated
We reported earlier on the non-canonical ordination conducted by Bishop Tim Wambunya in Berlin in April: Dr Tim Wambunya apologises for his role in a Berlin ordination service.
Today, the Diocese of Lichfield has published a letter from Bishop Wambunya and a comment from the Bishop of Lichfield.
The Church of England website has published this notice
Name: The Right Revd TIMOTHY LIVINGSTONE AMBOKO WAMBUNYA
Diocese: Oxford
Date imposed: 9th October 2024
Relevant CDM section: 16(1)
Statutory Ground of Misconduct: 8(1)(a) Doing any act in contravention of the laws ecclesiastical & 8(1)(d) Conduct unbecoming to the office and work of a Clerk in Holy Orders
Penalty: Rebuke and injunction
The comment from the Bishop of Lichfield reads as follows:
“Bishop Tim has willingly and humbly accepted the Archbishop’s rebuke and injunction for his actions in Germany in April of this year. The injunction requires him to receive some additional training which formalises the need I too recognise, and I welcome that and will play whatever part is required in that. Most of all, I am certain that this process allows all of us to move forward, especially Bishop Tim and the communities of the Wolverhampton Episcopal Area. It’s now time to celebrate without inhibition Bishop Tim’s arrival in the diocese next week and to welcome the start of his ministry. He brings many gifts an unmistakeable desire for our communities to encounter the good news of a God who loves them and wants their flourishing.”
There appears to be no comment from the Diocese of Oxford.
Update
Church Times Next Bishop of Wolverhampton rebuked for his part in non-canonical ordination
If I were a clergyperson in Wolverhampton area I would not be celebrating without inhibition next week. I would not be celebrating at all.This man was a bishop in Kenya, was a bishop in Oxford Diocese – so he has no excuse for swanning off and consecrating an irregular bishop – he knew what Anglican ecclesiology meant in this regard. It isn’t more training he needs; he needs to step aside and not take up this post.
I agree and note how quickly the CDM process took. What is the average timescale?
A CDM of a bishop is referred at the outset to the relevant Archbishop, in this case Canterbury. Without knowing, I suspect this could well have been the only such current case. A ‘rebuke’ (questioned below) is the lowest prescribed level of penalty short of ‘no further action’, and in this case was a penalty by consent, so there is really nothing remarkable about the timescale.
I agree, Jeremy. But I have a strong suspicion that the ‘elephant in the room’ might be that he didn’t know what Anglican ecclesiology is all about. If (as recent posts elsewhere suggest) it’s not taught in (some) Anglican theological colleges, it’s a fair assumption that it’s not taught overseas. I might be having a bad day, but my other real concern is that the comment from +Lichfield sounds pompous and misplaced. I’m wondering what the churchgoers of Lichfield think of all this which seems so distant from their everyday lives. Who else talks of ‘rebuke’ in this day and… Read more »
It’s not too difficult, David, to share your suspicions about his ignorance of Anglican ecclesiology at a time when we’re struggling to hold together the reality of the Church and given the widespread indifference and poor understanding among many ordinands and clergy (e.g. seeing nothing inappropriate in ministers not in ecclesial communion with the C of E joining in the laying on of hands at C of E ordinations).
“share your suspicions” sorry for the typo, David. Should read “have your suspicions”.
He clearly knew what he was doing otherwise why did he take episcopal robes with him to Germany. The photograph of the service in Germany shows him dressed in convocation robes.
In addition, he trained for ministry in this country and was ordained in the London diocese where he served from 1997 to 2007 when he returned to Kenya. More recently he has been in Slough for four years and has served as an Assistant Bishop in the diocese of Oxford so he must after all that time know what the canons state.
I have to agree — while it’s good that something has happened (relatively) quickly. It does feel like the punishment of “a few training sessions” doesn’t really feel like much. Certainly not a deterrent to anyone else doing something similar in the future. I would have thought something more appropriate as a compromise would be to create a temporary Archdeacon-office and ask him to hold it for 1 year (basically during that time not exorcising any episcopal functions in services, confirmations – etc) – – Which still isn’t “much” of a punishment. I’m not really sure how one could judge… Read more »
So are we to expect similar disciplinary treatment to be meted out to the people responsible for similar activities in London and Oxford recently? And if not, why not?
Because no one consecrated a bishop? Because nothing actually “similar” occurred?
God bless Bishop Tim. A hero of the faith.
His behaviour was appalling and he should lose pay.
Find the anger about this a bit odd? With all the other dramas in the CofE a bishop going to a very obscure Pentecostal ordination and participating seems quite? Having been around these types of churches it should be remembered they consider bishop the title of anyone with a large church ministry, it doesn’t reflect a specific ecclesiology. To then say he’s been censored too quickly again seems odd when TA is rightly concerned with many cases twisting in the wind.
I wonder who the complainant was in this CDM?
It all seems to have gone like clockwork in time for an uninhibited welcome to the diocese. Ecclesiastical discipline can move at the speed of light for some offenders; meanwhile John Smyth’s victims are still waiting for justice. Of course Bishop Tim is a black man and John Smyth was a posh white man.
What he did hurt nobody. It’s a purely technical infraction. Time to move on from it.
Is this a joke?
The good bishop blithely and deliberately ignores Canon Law and gets the equivalent of a smack across the knuckles with a damp paper towel.
Plenty of others (not episcopal) have been suspended for 6 months or more for far less.