Bishop Allin Calls on Church to Support Ugandans
Episcopal News Service. March 24, 1977 [77102]
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The Rt. Rev. John M. Allin, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, has called on Episcopalians "to give expression to our solidarity with the Church of Uganda" following the death of Anglican Archbishop Janani Luwum under mysterious circumstances shortly after he was publicly accused of involvement in a plot to overthrow the regime of President Idi Amin in mid-February.
In a letter to parish clergy of the Church, Bishop Allin said, "In the Body of Christ, and in our beloved Anglican Communion, we are one with the Uganda Christians and they with us. "
Bishop Allin suggested that Episcopalians can assure the Ugandan Christians "of our oneness with them in Christ" by praying for the Church of Uganda, by sending Easter cards to the bishops and dioceses of that Church, by contributing to the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief with checks marked "Uganda," and by inviting Ugandan students in the U. S. to speak in parishes and dioceses.
Further suggestions were for Episcopalians to write to the President and members of Congress "asking that there be an independent international inquiry into the violation of human rights in Uganda" and to seek information about violated rights from Amnesty International.
Bishop Allin noted in his letter that the Anglican Province of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Boga-Zaire will celebrate the centennial of the arrival of the first Anglican missionaries to Uganda this June. In spite of a long history of persecution and martyrdom, he said, "the Church has grown and flourished."
Today there are more than 3,000 members of that Church, he said, who are "deeply committed to the Lord Christ as Savior of all mankind" and who "are on fire with the Spirit, witnessing to others of the mighty acts and deeds of the Lord God of history."