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”.
For ‘poor understanding’ I’d substitute ‘disagreement’. But we’ve had this discussion before.
Indeed we have, Janet! Maybe lobby the bishops to get the canons and the Ordinal amended in line with your opinion.
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?
No, but we saw unofficial ‘consecrations’ of clergy of some kind – how similar does spiritual rebellion have to be before anyone takes any notice?
There have been enough comments made on earlier threads to make it clear that a lot of people are unhappy about the situation and the wider implications for the future of what seems to be a rapidly decomposing organisation.
I could go on – you could make some racial inferences over the fact Bishop Tim is rebuked and nothing publ;ic has been done to the London dissidents if you were so inclined.
John… Maybe what he did wasn’t “the best” but it’s hardly the end of the CofE.
It does seem a rather quick verdict which may have been influenced by his forthcoming appointment. But it didn’t require much investigation did it? The “evidence” wasn’t hidden at all. Not everything (even in the messed up CofE) is a conspiracy.
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.
Yes, I agree. It’s odd how this case has attracted more comment on TA than most items on safeguarding and sexual abuse, where there has been actual harm.
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.
This was my immediate reaction. There is clear evidence in other institutions such as nursing, medicine, and the police that members of the BAME community are much more likely to be entered into a disciplinary process, or to have a more severe punishment, then white people from the same background. But while the numbers are clear, the reasons for it are varied, complex and poorly understood, despite extensive research. Whilst Bishop Tim clearly did wrong, and the punishment may be appropriate, I was struck by the speed and publicity of this process for him, when many other white bishops who… Read more »
Curiously, Father, I’ve just made the same point in a reply to a post questioning my view on this. Is this another example of the public school elite’s institutional racism which other black clergy have complained of?
The Law & Religion website states the following from the Bishop of Wolverhampton:
“I have accepted by consent, a ‘rebuke’ and an injunction from the Archbishop of Canterbury under the Clergy Discipline Measure process following a complaint brought by the Archdeacon of Canterbury.”
Will Adam has always had an interest in ecumenism so it’s noteworthy that he felt so aggrieved by this breach of Anglican ecclesiology that he brought this complaint. Unless of course he was asked to sign here …
What he did hurt nobody. It’s a purely technical infraction. Time to move on from it.
Please do not take these words in vain. If he hurt nobody they hardly apply. And given that so much of the discussion in these pages is concerned with the effects of church power and its misuse/abuse I would be interested to know what other functions of the office of bishop are considered ‘purely technical’.
On the contrary, I am very serious. When it is my turn to be judged, do I want to be punished because I stood when I should have sat or vice versa? Or ate meat rather than fish on a Friday? Or wore a wool jacket with a cotton lining?
Katie,
A church of England Bishop has consecrated a Kenyan to work as a bishop in Kenya without consent from the Anglican Church of Kenya. What is to stop a Church of Kenya bishop going to Germany and consecrating an English person to act as an ‘Anglican’ bishop in England without consent from the C of E?
Consecration does not have a geographic effect so it wouldn’t be a bishop “in England”, just a bishop. It’s the office awarded by an archbishop which adds geographic effect. As the consecrating bishop’s home church would then be down to the Anglican Church of Kenya, in the first place, to decide whether to recognise the new bishop or not.
Since not all consecrated bishops are recognised I don’t see the problem. I am assuming that the Church of England hasn’t recognised the bishop +Tim consecrated? Although that’s something which doesn’t seem to have been discussed.
‘Consecration does not have a geographic effect’??? Have you noticed that bishops are the bishop of a place? This ‘bishop’ has areas of work and a head office in Kenya. He is setting up churches in Kenya. The Archbishop of Kenya is unlikely to recognise him as a CoK bishop, but he will still set up churches and call himself bishop in a geographic location. There are people who call themselves bishops and gather congregations who pretend to be Anglicans, but are not.
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.
Really, what is the point of having ‘Canon Law’ if noone seems to consistently take any notice of it?
I’m just being bolshie – after all, the 39 Articles seem to have plenty of breaches in them, and I understood them to somehow be authorititative as regards our beliefs and practices. That one about the bishop of Rome having no authority within the CofE is particularly out of date, for one……
As previous contributors have noted, who and where’s the victim in all this?Fa4 bigger things to get hit under the dog collar about. I honestly don’t think most ordinary folk, those that are left in the pews, care one jot. The finer points of Anglican ecclesiology pass over most people’s head. Yes, time to move on and pray for Bishop Tim as he starts his new ministry. So relieved the issue has nothing to do with race or his conservative stance on some issues, it doesn’t does it…
Who is the victim? The rise in ‘Anglican’ bishops in African provinces is a problem for diocesan bishops. Every province now has such ‘Anglican Bishops’ who are running their own fiefdoms (one of my former colleagues and two of my former students in Tanzania are ‘bishops’ running their own Anglican Churches). They rarely have safeguarding processes in place and some are ready to accept corrupt clergy expelled from a diocese. They are legitimised by Anglican episcopal ordination. I am not implying that Revd Wamare Juma is himself a safeguarding danger (although there is nothing about safeguarding on his organisations website),… Read more »
‘Who is the victim?’
Anglicanism?
But not the Gospel per se… I think we need to be wary in these post colonial days of unwittingly transferring our western views admirable and well intentioned and appropriate in our own setting as they may be eg safeguarding to different cultural milieu. The word is wary not blind I should add.
Except I have rung a couple of African Bishops and they are horrified by the failed ecclesiology and the issues that could arise. They know they have dismissed clergy for really bad behaviour only to see them join a different ‘Anglican’ Church. My point is that the Bishop of Lichfield is NOT consulting the African Church.
The question I would ask – Has the Bishop of Lichfield asked the bishops in Kenya if the organisation run by Rev Wamare Juma is causing harm in their dioceses? If not why would he be able to speak for them? If he has, why has he not said they accept or even affirm the ministry of Rev Wamare Juma in their dioceses?
Nothing to see here. He may have been naive or stupid over this but he’s clearly been appointed by people who don’t have any problem with that because there is no longer any ecclesiology holding the sinking ship afloat.
Object on ecclesiological grounds and racism or intolerance will be your suspected, hidden motive.
We’ve come a long way since the Jeffrey John, Reading sell-out.
Bishop Tim has been called to this role. Prior to all this, he appeared to be a really good fit for the area. Whether you believe his apology, he has been penitent publicly and graciously, for acting either naively or stupidly. So let him get on with his new role. Either that or its not him that needs to withdraw, but the church to pull the plug on this. He could be a fantastic bishop because of this rather than despite this. Goodness me, the early church’s leaders had more misfits and misdemeanours than this in its – rather fruitful… Read more »
Indeed… when did we come to accept only absolutely sinless leaders?
But isn’t the current problem that of having to pretend that those in the top gang are just that- you know- some pigs are more equal than others??
It would seem insufficient rigor of enquiry attended the appointing of the Bp of Wolverhampton; did no-one study his previous theological education or enquire into his understanding of the role of a Bishop within the Provinces of the United Kingdom?
It is sad that his episcopal ministry has been overshadowed at the outset by scandal but hopefully he will be blessed with many years of ministry to come.
One wonders just how uninhibited the celebrations turned out to be. Not, hopefully, to the point of debauchery.