Conger

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.

The Anglican Church of Tanzania has intervened in the dispute between the Bishop of Central Tanganyika and his suffragan, and has asked Bishop Godfrey Mhogolo to halt evictions proceedings against Bishop Ainea Kusenha.

The Guardian newspaper of Dar es Salaam reported this week Bishop Mhogolo tried to evict Bishop Kusenha from his diocesan owned house, but was asked to halt by the Province. On Jan 15 the diocesan secretary informed Bishop Kusenha he would be removed by force if he did not vacate the vicarage. Bishop Kusenha declined to go, prompting a crowd of supporters to gather at his home to prevent his removal.

The province stepped in, sources tell The Church of England Newspaper, to avoid a public spectacle.

While officially couched in terms of a disagreement in management styles between the two bishops, the dispute in Central Tanganyika has drawn its energy from the fallout over the consecration of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire.

In March, Bishop Mhogolo came under fire from clergy and lay leaders of his diocese after he broke with his colleagues in the Tanzanian House of Bishops, releasing a letter on Jan 26 opposing his Church’s policies towards The Episcopal Church.

The Tanzanian Bishops’ statement “that expresses a severely impaired relationship with ECUSA, and that no money will be received by the Anglican Church of Tanzania from ECUSA and its entities that condone homosexual practices,” he said “carries a lot of weight” but did not “express the will and wishes of the whole Anglican Church of Tanzania,” Bishop Mhogolo wrote.

Central Tanganyika would continue to accept US funds in defiance of the Provincial Bishops’ statement, he said. Internal protests over his pro-American policies led to his being banned from his cathedral in Dodoma at Easter, while calls were made for his removal from office.

Bishop Mhogolo responded that while he rejected the American church’s affirmation of gay bishops and blessings, he did not believe homosexual conduct was a worse sin than murder or adultery. “There are so many other problems ranging from poverty, ignorance and diseases that the church in Africa could address instead of importing the issue of homosexuality which is a problem of the American church,” he said.

The objections lodged against him were a ploy to undermine his authority, the bishop said. However, the unresolved dispute over the Episcopal Church has led to conflict with senior clergy in the diocese, and now with his suffragan, Bishop Kusenha.

Scene outside the Cathedral door following Sunday services on Feb 11, 2007 at the Anglican Cathedral in Dar es Salaam, the two male clergy are the Rev Canon Kenneth Kearon, ACC secretary general, and Bishop Gerald Mpango of Western Tanganyika. Lay Canon Elizabeth Paver of the Anglican Consultative Council standing committee (in blue) is speaking to an unnamed Congolese female priest. First published in The Living Church.

The Rt. Rev. Gerald Mpango, Bishop of Western Tanganyika and the Rev. Canon Charlie Masters, President of the Anglican Essentials (Canada) Coalition following Sunday services at the Dar es Salaam Cathedral on Feb 11, 2007. First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

Primates gathered in the VIP lounge at the Dar es Salaam airport on Feb 13 following the arrival of Archbishop Williams and his party from London. From left to right, the Most Rev. Donald Mtetemela, Archbishop of Tanzania, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Andrew Hutchison, Archbishop of Canada, the Most Rev. John Sentamu, Archbishop of York. Canterbury, York, Canada and their aides were on the same BA flight to Dar es Salaam from London, along with the Archbishops of Ireland, Scotland and Brazil.

This photo first appeared in The Church of England Newspaper.