Tanzania has a new primate: CEN 3.07.08 p 6. March 7, 2008
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Tanzania, Church of England Newspaper.trackback
The Anglican Church of Tanzania has elected a new primate. The Bishop of Dar es Salaam, the Rt. Rev. Valentino Mokiwa was elected Archbishop of at a special meeting of the Church’s General Synod on Feb 28 in Dodoma.
Archbishop-elect Mokiwa succeeds Archbishop Donald Mtetemela, the Bishop of Ruaha, who has completed his second five year term as primate and is ineligible to stand for a third term.
Delegates from the Tanzanian church’s 21 dioceses met in a single session with each diocese sending five electors: its bishop, two clergy and two lay delegates. The new archbishop will be enthroned on May 25 in Dodoma.
An Anglo-Catholic, Archbishop-elect Mokiwa is expected to continue the international policies of his predecessor. Last year Bishop Mokiwa was part of the majority in the Tanzanian House of Bishops that voted to break relations with the US Episcopal Church. On Jan 13, Bishop Mokiwa made a visitation to Holy Trinity Anglican Church in San Diego, a breakaway parish of the Diocese of San Diego that had affiliated with the Province of the Southern Cone.
The Bishop of Dar es Salaam has championed the rights of the poor in the East African nation, and on Christmas Eve last year challenged the government to revoke mining contracts given to multi-national corporations, saying they were let on dubious terms and cheated the common man.
He has also backed the government’s campaign to clean up the capital’s sex tourism businesses and its crack down on prostitution. He has also warned Tanzanian women against aping the fashion styles of the West, saying short skirts and skimpy clothes promoted decadence.
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