Conger

The Most Rev Emmanuel Kolini, Primate of the Anglican Church of Rwanda and Archbishop of Kigali

The Diocese of Cyangugu in Southern Rwanda was rocked by an earthquake last week that has left at least 40 dead, including 13 killed when a church collapsed.

Some 300 people were also reported injured after the series of quakes hit the Great Lakes districts of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at dawn on Sunday, Feb 3.

The epicenter of a quake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale was about 20 km north of Bukavu on the southern tip of Lake Kivu in the DRC. A second tremor measuring 5.0 was recorded in Cyangugu in Southern Rwanda near the DRC border.

The administrator of the Diocese of Cyangugu writes the region was “badly hit” just as “people were preparing to go to church, and then by subsequent tremors during the day. Many people are sleeping outside at night. There are still a few tremors over the place.”

The Rev. Emmanuel Mukeshimana reports considerable damage has been done to a number of diocesan buildings and to the homes of many clergy and parishioners. The diocesan guest house in Kamembe was badly damaged, as were a number of churches and schools, he said.

“What happened in Cyangugu on Sunday will soon be forgotten by the rest of the world. Even today it is not mentioned in the headlines,” Fr. Mukeshimana said.

“The situation is not life threatening and NGO’s will not come running. But this isolated, remote area of Rwanda has been badly affected.” However, “we need your help,” he wrote to mission partners in the West.

The long term impact of the quake will be severe as “those just managing to keep their heads above water and looking for every franc of income they can get are now faced with the financial burden of needing to repair their homes,” he said.

The Primate of Rwanda, Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini has called for the reform of the East African nation’s state education system to combat “genocide ideology.”

In his Christmas sermon delivered at St Etienne’s Cathedral in Biryogo, Archbishop Kolini said the state education system was not doing enough to eradicate the racist and tribal ideologies that lay behind the 1994 genocide.

Teachers “have to be taught not to shy away from speaking the dangerous effects of this ideology,” he said.

Organizers of the 1994 Rwandan genocide that left almost a million dead in the small East African nation used the media and state schools to install genocide ideology into the Hutu majority of the population.

This ideology taught that Tutsi were foreign to Rwanda and had usurped the rights of the Hutu. The Tutsi were said to be responsible for the continuing poverty of most of the Hutu people and that they posed a physical threat to the lives and property of Hutus. Hutu ideologues taught the Tutsi were poised to unleash a reign of terror upon the Hutus, and that the slaughter of Tutsis and moderate Hutus was an act of self-defense.

Archbishop Kolini called upon all Rwandans to repudiate genocide ideology and its call to violence and racial hatred. Security and salvation came not through force of arms, he said, but through faith in Jesus Christ.

At the Nov 27 meeting of the Rwandan General Synod at St. Etienne’s Cathedral, Archbishop Kolini was reelected to a further three year term as primate. In his presidential address to the synod he endorsed a package of structural reforms to streamline the administration of the church, and also lauded the solid gains made by the nation and the church in the wake of the 1994 genocide.

Delegates voted to broaden the curriculum of the church’s theological college in Kabunga, and offer degrees in secular subjects—moving it to university status. Plans to construct a metropolitan cathedral for the province in Kigali were also unveiled.

Synod also voted to change the name of the Church from L’Eglise Episcopal au Rwanda to L’Eglise Anglican au Rwanda, (Anglican Church of Rwanda).

Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper.

The Primate of Rwanda, Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini has welcomed the Anglican Peace and Justice Network (APJN) to Kigali for the start of the Anglican Consultative Council official network’s triennial meeting.

The APJN will meet from Sept 25 to Oct 3 in Rwanda and in neighboring Burundi, and explore the impact of violence and social unrest upon society.

Archbishop Kolini recounted the 1994 Rwandan genocide to the delegates from 17 of the Communion’s provinces, including the chairman of the AJPN’s steering committee Bishop Pie Ntukamazina of Bujumbura and Dr. Jenny Te Paa of New Zealand, the Network’s convener.

The AJPN’s visit to Rwanda was poignant for Archbishop Kolini, awaking memories of the violence that claimed the life of over 800,000 while the “world abandoned us.”
Archbishop Kolini preached from Genesis 12:2-3 on God’s call to Abraham to be a blessing to the nations, questioning how the Church and mankind could be an instrument of God’s blessings in the wake of such tremendous evil.

The Church had failed Rwanda, he said, as it had not spoken up and prevented the violence.  “It is easy to be religious, but very difficult to be the people of God. What went wrong was a problem of the soul,” he said.

Two survivors of the 1994 massacres, members of the International Anglican Women’s Network address the gathering and described their experiences and the horrors surrounding the killings.

Archbishop Kolini concluded his remarks by stressing the primacy of repentance and forgiveness.  While the roots of the massacre lay in the country’s turbulent colonial history and in ethnic hatreds, human failings were chiefly to blame.  Hope could only arise from confession, he said.  Confession of the Church of its failings and bypeople of their sinful hearts: “Hope begins there,” he said.

Following its tour of Rwanda the APJN will travel to neighboring Burundi, which has also experienced a decade of ethnic and civil strife and instability.

The Church Mission Society (CMS) will not abandon its friends in Africa over the the conflicts of doctrine and discipline traumatizing the Anglican Communion, the Society’s Mid Africa Region chief Stephen Burgess told a gathering of church leaders in Rwanda.

The Episcopal Church of Rwanda reported that on Sept 11, Mr. Burgess said the CMS did not support the American Church’s actions on gay bishops and blessings and breach of traditional Biblical norms.

“I want you to know that CMS has adhered to high-quality traditional norms of the Bible for the good of the people,” he said, adding that “people should therefore act as ambassadors of Christ for the good of their lives” according to a report released by the Rwandan Church. 

God’s word was constant and moral truths were unchanging, he said, noting he was disheartened by the US Episcopal Church’s breach of traditional Biblical norms.

Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini pledged Rwanda’s support for the work of CMS in Mid Africa, promising closer cooperation and coordination of mission and evangelism work.

The Bishop of Byumba in rural northeast Rwanda, reports his diocese has begun a goats for God programme, donating over 1000 goats and 200 dairy cows to rural communities to help them become economically self-sufficient.

Bishop Onesphore Rwaje, Bishop of Byumba and Dean of the Province of Rwanda stated “our church as a vision for holistic development,” and had purchased the livestock “to stamp out hunger” and ensure “food security.”  The church was also engaged in teaching rural villagers about scientific farming, to help improve crop yields and reduce soil erosion and deforestation.

The Rwandan project is modeled upon the work of western charities such as Heifer International of the United States, and Send a Cow in Britain.

Chartered in 1998 by West Country farmers, Send a Cow is a Christian charity that gives African farming families agricultural implements and livestock: cattle, goats, sheep, bees, rabbits, and donkeys.

In return, the farm families promise to give the first female calf to another poor family.  The cow and other livestock provide milk and other products to consume and sell, as well as manure to fertilize the soil.

In the 19 years since it started, ‘Send a Cow’ has helped thousands of people across Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zambia, Tanzania and Lesotho and has grown from an annual turnover of £500,000 to £5.4 million.

Send a Cow’s is “focused on the essence of its Christian motivation,” the chairman of its board of trustees Philip Poulsom said, “that of offering a neighbourly hand to those trapped in poverty, especially widows, orphans, people living with HIV/AIDS and those with disabilities.”

“By giving them the start in life they need, they have access to a healthy diet and the ability to generate an income to pay for such essentials as better housing, education for children and healthcare,” he said.

Three more American bishops will be added to the roster of the Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMIA), the Church of Rwanda announced on Sept 5; increasing the size of the Rwanda House of Bishops to 16: seven missionary American bishops and nine Rwandan diocesan bishops.

The House of Bishops of the Province of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda (PEER) on Sept 4 elected the Rev Terrell Glenn, the Rev Philip Jones and the Rev John Miller as missionary bishops to the United States under the jurisdiction of Rwandan Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini. Their election came the week after Uganda and Kenya consecrated three former Episcopal priests to serve as missionary bishops to the US.

The election of the three comes as a result of the “the significant growth of the missionary outreach initiated” by the Rwandan church in the United States, a statement released by the Church’s provincial secretary read.

Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini denied suggestions the consecrations were financially motivated. “We are an independent church and we don’t need any funding from America. Ours is not a begging church, it is a church that can stand on its own,” he told a Kigali newspaper last week.

Popular sentiment in the East African nation has supported the missionary outreach to the United States. Kigali’s English-language daily newspaper, The New Times, said the consecrations were a “a move in the right direction, if the country has to save so many of the souls that had crumbled due to the [Episcopal] Church’s recent scandal.”

“It is high time our Church leaders accepted to render a hand to the ‘friend in need’ before the seeming schism takes actual root between Africa and the West,” it said.
A former member of the standing committee of the Diocese of Central Florida, the Rev John Miller, III was rector of St John’s Episcopal Church in Melbourne, before seceding with a portion of his congregation to form Prince of Peace Anglican Church in 2004. The Rev Terrell L. Glenn, Jr., a one-time deputy to General Convention from South Carolina and former rector of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Mt Pleasant, has served as rector of the AMiA’s flagship congregation, All Saints, Pawleys Island, since 2005. The Rev Philip Jones has served as rector of St Andrew’s Anglican Church in Little Rock since 2005 after serving seven years as Dean of St Clement’s Episcopal pro-cathedral Church in El Paso, Texas.

The three former Episcopal priests will be consecrated on Jan 26 in Dallas, TX, during the AMiA’s annual winter conference.

Almost half of the Church of Rwanda’s bishops will be former priests of the American Episcopal Church by years end, the church announced today.

Three more American bishops will be added to the roster of the Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMIA), the Church of Rwanda announced on Sept 5; increasing the size of the Rwanda House of Bishops to 16: seven missionary American bishops and nine Rwandan diocesan bishops.

The House of Bishops of the Province of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda (PEER) on Sept 4 elected the Rev. Terrell Glenn, the Rev. Philip Jones and the Rev. John Miller as missionary bishops to the United States under the jurisdiction of Rwandan Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini.

Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper.

Comment at Thinking Anglicans.

RWANDA will not be bullied into compromising its position on gay bishops and blessings, the Bishop of Shyira, John Rucyahana,told the state radio service last week.

The Agence Rwandaise d’Information reported that the Anglican Church in that East African nation would not “be pushed into adopting the satanic behaviour of the ‘whites because they are whites’,” and accept the innovations of doctrine and discipline surrounding human sexuality advocated by the American Church.

It is the Americans who have “abandoned the faith, the law and doctrine of the church. They also do not believe in the teachings of the Bible”, Bishop Rucyahana said on Aug 14 to a nationwide radio audience.

The liberal western churches ‘do not conform to the religious conduct of the Anglican church’ because it is they who have “ordained homosexuals as bishops not Africans.”

The West had ‘never been challenged by African believers,’ he said, arguing that the present turmoil arose “because we remained faithful to the biblical teachings and instead challenged them about their conduct.”

Bishop Rucyahana’s strong words follow a statement released last month by the country’s bishops objecting to Dr Rowan Williams’ decision to withhold invitations to the 2008 Lambeth Conference to that Church’s American missionary bishops while inviting bishops to Lambeth who had participated in the consecration of Gene Robinson, the Bishop of New Hampshire.

Dr Williams’ invitation policy had been ‘divisive’ they said, and his words were ‘tantamount to a threat, and we cannot accept this’.

Rwanda, Nigeria, Uganda and Sydney have publicly voiced protests over Dr Williams’ invitation policy for the gathering of the Communion’s bishops next July in Canterbury and may boycott the conference in protest. Dr Williams’ options have also been limited by the left as well, with some bishops privately stating that if the ban on Gene Robinson is not lifted, they will not attend either.

Dr Williams meets with the US House of Bishops from Sep 19-21 in New Orleans. The Bishops have been asked to respond by Sept 30 to the united demand of the Primates that the Episcopal Church makes its position clear on gay bishops and blessings.

The Diocese of Massachusetts has settled its lawsuit against the former rector and members of All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Attleboro. On Aug. 1, the diocese discontinued litigation against the Rev. Lance Giuffrida and members of the vestry of All Saints’ Anglican Church, a parish of the Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMIA), in consideration of payment of an undisclosed sum.

Both sides hailed the agreement. The Rev. Gregory A. Jacobs, diocesan staff officer for urban ministry development, said the settlement will help support the remnant of the parish that chose to remain in The Episcopal Church. The agreement “will allow the continuing congregation at All Saints’ Episcopal Church to grow their ministry as they continue to be a vital presence in the faith community of Attleboro,” he said.

Fr. Giuffrida also lauded the agreement, writing to his congregation on Aug. 4 that the agreement was fortuitous.

“In a shorter time than seemed possible, God has removed every obstacle from our paths,” he said, reporting both the settlement of litigation and the purchase of a redundant Methodist church for the AMiA congregation.

In September 2006, the congregation voted to withdraw from the Diocese of Massachusetts and affiliate with the Rwandan-backed AMiA. Following negotiations, the congregation turned over the property to the diocese in January.

However in late June, the diocese filed suit against the former rector and 18 vestry members, alleging they had diverted $196,863 from parish coffers to the newly formed AMiA congregation. The diocese also sought damages against Fr. Giuffrida, seeking repayment of a $10,000 home equity loan given by the parish to its rector and $7,600 in salary paid during the transition from The Episcopal Church to the AMiA. The leaders of the breakaway group denied the allegations.

Fr. Giuffrida told the Attleboro Sun Chronicle the agreement included a hold-harmless agreement binding both parties, repayment of a $10,000 home loan, and the return of some prayer books.

First published in The Living Church.

The Episcopal Church of Rwanda has withdrawn from the 2008 Lambeth Conference, joining Uganda in formally boycotting the gathering of Anglican bishops next year in Canterbury and has accused the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams of backing The Episcopal Church [TEC] in the inter-Anglican war over homosexuality.

In a statement released on June 26, the Rwandan bishops stated they were perturbed by Dr. Williams’ decision not to invite the bishops of the Rwandan-led Anglican Mission in America while at the same time he had extended invitations to US bishops who refused to conform to the Communion’s teaching on human sexuality.

“We are a united body and will not participate in a conference which would divide our number,” the Rwandans said.

Nor was Dr. Williams being an honest broker in mediating the Communion’s disputes, they charged. “From his actions and decision to invite TEC, a province which is violating holy orders, biblical teaching and the tradition of the church, and his decision not to invite the bishops of AMiA and CANA, the Archbishop of Canterbury has shown that he has now taken sides because the Primates have asked TEC for repentance in order to be in communion with them.”

Dr. Williams’ explanation contained in a June 18 letter to Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini had compounded the problem. “You should know that I have not invited the bishops of AMiA and CANA. This is not a question of asking anyone to disassociate themselves at this stage from what have been described as the missionary initiatives of your Provinces,” Dr. Williams wrote.

“I appreciate that you may not be happy with these decisions, but I feel that as we approach a critical juncture of the life of the Communion, I must act in accordance to the clear guidance of the instruments of the Communion,” the Archbishop said.

The Rwandans responded “We would like to know if there are instruments in the Communion more important than the Primates and Provinces themselves. The Archbishop of Canterbury also refers to the consecration of the AMiA and CANA bishops as irregular. We would like to know why their consecrations are considered irregular when the actions of TEC are not considered irregular. We feel that the words of the Archbishop are tantamount to a threat, and we cannot accept this.”

Rwanda would sit out Lambeth until the “repentance on the part of the TEC and other like-minded Provinces is met, and invitations are extended to our entire House of Bishops,” they wrote.

The Church of England’s breakaway congregation in the Algarve is contemplating joining the Anglican Mission in America [AMiA].

In an announcement posted on its parish website, All Saints Algarve in Almancil, Portugal stated that the executive officer of the AMiA, Canon Ellis Brust would be visiting the congregation June 16-17.

The parish reported that Rwandan Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini “has agreed to send his personal emissary” to the parish “to visit with us and talk to us about All Saints becoming part of the growing family of AMiA churches.”

Comprised of over 100 congregations in the US and Canada, the AMiA was formed in 2000.

Comment on this article at EpiscopalCafe.

Lord Carey’s letter to The Church of England Newspaper questioning the rationale used to exclude the Anglican Mission in America [AMiA] from the 2008 Lambeth Conference has elicited strong words of support from American conservatives, as well as dark mutterings from aides to Dr. Rowan Williams.

In a letter to the editor published on June 1, Lord Carey questioned the explanation given by Conference Secretary Canon Kenneth Kearon in excluding the AMiA from Lambeth. “My opposition to the consecration of two AMiA bishops related to the setting up of Episcopal activity in the United States which I regarded as unconstitutional and unnecessary” Lord Carey wrote.

However, this was before the actions of General Convention in 2003 when the “Episcopal Church clearly signaled its abandonment of Communion norms, in spite of the warning of the Primates.”

“Everything has changed in the Anglican Communion as a result of the consecration of Gene Robinson” Lord Carey noted. He urged Dr. Williams not to regard his 2000 statements as “necessarily binding on him in the very different circumstances of 2007.”

AMiA Bishop Chuck Murphy welcomed Lord Carey’s words of support. The former Archbishop of Canterbury’s words “reflect not only his awareness that this crisis has now reached the breaking point for the Communion, but also that, perhaps, his initial harsh criticisms of our work and ‘intervention’ in response to this global crisis may now need to be modified somewhat, or even withdrawn, in the light of the unfolding developments of the last seven years,” Bishop Murphy told the CEN.

There was a “growing international consensus” that the crisis of faith and order within the Anglican Communion had the potential to destroy it. The AMiA’s “outside strategy” in responding to the crisis “has proved to be a most creative and effective model for addressing” the breakdown of faith and order, he said.

The Ugandan and Nigerian warnings that they could not attend the conference in all good conscience if the Robinson consecrating bishops were present was not an idle threat, he noted. “The Global South is firm in its stand that they will no longer accept business as usual,” Bishop Murphy said.

Comment on this story at the AACBlog.

Robert G. Devlin, chancellor for the Diocese of Pittsburgh, will remain in that office while serving as executive officer for the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA).

The organization’s website describes AMiA as providing “a way for congregations and clergy to be fully Anglican…while, at the same time, being free of the crises of faith, leadership and mission in the Episcopal Church USA.”

Read it all in The Living Church.