International Briefing
Episcopal News Service. October 14, 2005 [101405-2-A]
* AFRICA: CAPA seeks new general secretary
* CANADA: Toronto congregation helps Mississippi church rebuild
* MOZAMBIQUE: From peace to health: Malaria is bishop's next target
* UGANDA: Bishop backs arrest warrants for Lord's Army rebels
* ASIA: Presiding Bishop to visit at invitation of Anglican leaders
* PANAMA: Latin American theological group calls Communion to honor Anglicanism's middle way
AFRICA: CAPA seeks new general secretary
[ENS, Source: CAPA] The Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA) is advertising for a new general secretary to be based in its office in Nairobi, Kenya.
CAPA was established in 1979 in Chilema, Malawi, by Anglican Primates in Africa who saw a need to form a coordinating body that would help in bringing the Anglican Communion in Africa together and articulating issues affecting the Church.
Details of the advertisement can be found online at: http://www.capa-hq..org/news_events.php?id=24.
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CANADA: Toronto congregation helps Mississippi church rebuild
by Marites N. Sison
[ENS, Source: Anglican Journal] When Hurricane Camille devastated the Gulf Coast on August 17, 1969, among the landmarks it destroyed in Biloxi, Mississippi, was the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, where only the bell tower survived.
Before the bulldozers ploughed away the debris, however, women parishioners painstakingly picked through the ruins for pieces of the church's exquisite stained glass windows that had been imported from Germany. Among the shattered pieces they recovered were images of Jesus' face and hands, lifted in an act of blessing.
The recovered glass became new works of art under the hands of Evelyn Pease, an artist trained in Germany. Some became part of a "Rose Window" behind a rebuilt Church of the Redeemer; others became part of the "Window of Hope," which art students from the Louisiana State University created with the help of their art instructor Paul Dufore, and Pease. The fragments with Jesus' face and hands became the "Window of the Redeemer" and depicted him with arms raised in welcome, a sun flare behind him. It was placed in the narthex of the church.
When Hurricane Katrina rampaged through the Gulf Coast in September, 36 years after Hurricane Camille, the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer again took a direct hit and this time, even the bell tower did not make it. But something else miraculously survived: The stained glass window with the welcoming image of Jesus.
"I can't comprehend it. No pews survived, but this 19th-century glass window did," said Rev. Harold Roberts, who became rector of the Church of the Redeemer more than eight years ago, after moving to Biloxi from Toronto, where his last parish was St. Timothy's church in Agincourt, Ontario.
Roberts and his congregation became aware that it survived when Biloxi Sun Herald photographer Tim Isbell photographed the stained glass window propped against the bumper of a truck, which was loading salvaged goods near the beachfront; it is now being held for safekeeping by a parishioner.
The story of the stained glass window that survived one of the worst natural disasters in American history has been like a beacon of hope for the Redeemer congregation, which has vowed to build a new, better church.
The congregation, which held a service at the church ruins the Sunday after the hurricane, is now worshipping in a public school. But Roberts said the congregation is looking at a two-year timetable for building a new church.
Full story: http://anglicanjournal.com/extra/news.php?newsItem=2005-10-12_a.news
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MOZAMBIQUE: From peace to health: Malaria is bishop's next target
[ENS, Source: Anglican Church of Canada] Popularly known for his leading role in Mozambique's peace talks, Anglican bishop Dinis Sengulane of the Mozambican diocese of Lebombo is now leading a fight against Mozambique's number one killer disease, malaria.
Malaria kills more people in Mozambique than HIV/AIDS, which is ravaging Africa. According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), "malaria accounts for around 35 per cent of all deaths among children under 5, and the high prevalence is a major contributing factor to Mozambique having one of the highest child mortality rates in the world."
On a recent visit to Canada, Bishop Sengulane, chair of the Mozambican Roll Back Malaria program, told staff at Church House that it is now imperative that the church get involved in the fight against malaria. "There is a growing need to train our catechists and lay leaders in basic health education," he said.
The Anglican Church of Canada, through the Anglican Appeal, has been supporting the training of lay leaders and catechists in the diocese, "but what we need now is to focus more on basic health education," said Sengulane.
Most training resources have been channeled towards HIV/AIDS and peace related programs. However, "fighting HIV/AIDS does not mean you abandon the fight against malaria," said Sengulane. "Malaria is a shortcut to kill people with HIV/AIDS, yet what causes malaria is preventable, it is curable and can be eradicated."
"In Mozambique alone, malaria takes the life of one child every 30 seconds," he said. "It was in that context that I undertook to be involved in the fight against malaria and accepted my nomination as chair of the Mozambique's Roll Back Malaria program."
The Roll Back Malaria program, initiated by 90 organizations including WHO, the UN Children's Fund, the UN Development Program and the World Bank, aims to cut malaria deaths in half in Africa by 2010. It is seeking to bring together civil society, religious groups, traditional leaders, banks and other groups in the fight against malaria.
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UGANDA: Bishop backs arrest warrants for Lord's Army rebels
By Fredrick Nzwili
[ENS, Source: Ecumenical News International] Northern Uganda Anglican Bishop Nelson Onono-Onweng is backing the issuing of arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court for five leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group, despite the apprehension of some that this could jeopardize peace mediation.
"We go by it," Bishop Onono-Onweng told Ecumenical News International from Gulu on October 11. "We had opposed it earlier because peace talks were going on, but that is over."
The bishop stressed, however, that churches in northern Uganda and southern Sudan would have to work hard to persuade the remaining rebels to peacefully lay down their weapons as he noted the government had informed him of its commitment to grant amnesty to them.
"These are only five [warrants]. The Church has the duty to bring the others to end the fighting," he said.
Hundreds of children are forced fighters in the LRA ranks. Church leaders in northern Uganda have expressed deep concern over the press-ganging of child soldiers.
"My prayer is that God changes their [LRA] hearts. With the Sudanese government, the United Nations, the Uganda army against them, that is a big force. They have to be prudent enough and change their heart. If they don't they will be killed," noted the bishop.
The International Criminal Court issued the indictments for the LRA commanders, including leader Joseph Kony and his deputy Vincent Otti, after starting investigations in 2004 of war crimes carried out during the 19 years of conflict. These are the first warrants issued by the court.
Peace mediator Betty Bigombe, a former Ugandan government minister, has been leading efforts to convince the LRA to accept President Yoweri Museveni's amnesty, but had reservations about the issuance of the arrest warrants.
"There is no doubt I need to make some adjustments, but the situation has been made difficult by the warrants," Bigombe told the UN's Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) in Bujumbura, the Burundi capital on 10 October.
The LRA has been fighting to gain control of Uganda, and is accused of widespread murders, torture and kidnapping. Thousands have been killed in the conflict and more than 1.5 million people displaced. Human rights groups say about 20,000 children have been kidnapped during the conflict in which government forces have also been accused of carrying out atrocities.