ACC Presses Fight Against Apartheid
Episcopal News Service. May 7, 1987 [87100]
Ruth Nicastro, Diocese of Los Angeles
SINGAPORE (DPS, May 7) -- The Anglican Consultative Council, as expected, has passed a strongly worded resolution condemning the apartheid system of South Africa and in particular decrying the present detention, without charge or trial, of many people, including children, in that country. However, the delegates, after fierce debate, refused to single out the Church of England and its vast holding for special attention.
Affirming its solidarity with all those suffering for a just society in South Africa, the Council asked church members to press their governments to put in place "effective sanctions" against the South African government, and to urge business and financial institutions to "disinvest and disengage from the South African economy."
Further, the churches were asked to ensure that none of their own financial resources were invested in any way which would support the present regime in South Africa.
The Council asked member churches to continue their prayers and support for all the peoples of Southern Africa in their struggle for justice and peace and again called on the South African government to withdraw from Namibia in accordance with the terms of United Nations Resolution 435. It also condemned the unprovoked aggression on some frontline states by South Africa.
Presented by the Christianity and the Social Order section of the Council, the resolution incorporated a memorandum to the section from the Peace and Justice Network which met here Just prior to the ACC. Language on sanctions and disinvestment had been strengthened by the section after an address to the Council by Dr. Alan Boesak of South Africa, who also met with the section as consultant. (See DPS 87101)
As presented, the resolution singled out in a separate item the Church Commissioners of England, specifically calling to their attention the disinvestment sections of the resolutions.
English delegate Tohn Smallwood, himself a Church Commissioner, stated that the Commissioners were required "by English statutory law" to serve their beneficiaries, principally the clergy and pensioners of the Church of England, and could not adopt policies which were "financially disadvantageous."
The Commissioners, Smallwood said, abhorred apartheid, had divested most of their holding in such companies and were continuing that process, so that less than five percent of their total portfolio was presently so involved.
Smallwood's statement engendered considerable debate, initiated by U.S. Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning. Browning said the issue was not the amount of investment a church had in South Africa, but whether it should have any investment at all. "Is the church across this global village going to be earning its income on a system based on injustice?"
The Very Rev. Frederick Borsch, also a delegate from the U.S., said that the Episcopal Church had been faced with a similar legal situation in the so-called "prudent man's law." The church, as well as other institutions, has challenged such law and had totally disinvested without being sued.
Kenyan Bishop David Gitari observed, "As Christians, we cannot obey every law, as we learned from St. Peter and St. Paul."
A point at issue seemed to be the vast size of the Commissioners' total portfolio, amounting to some 2 billion pounds sterling, so that whatever remaining amount was involved in South Africa was still sizeable. Australia's Alan Nichols made the point that particularly with such a large portfolio, the Commissioners were in a position to bring a heavy pressure to bear upon the companies in which they invest to stop doing business with the apartheid regime.
Prevailing sentiment appeared to favor the resolution as drafted until Archbishop Douglas Hambidge, Metropolitan of British Colombia, Canada, injected that he was unhappy with singling out a particular agency of one province. After several other speakers agreed, the sponsoring section withdrew the item, pointing out that England, like all other provinces, was called upon to disinvest completely by the main body of the resolution.
The resolution then passed the Council with no opposing votes and only one abstention, by Archbishop Donald Robinson of Australia.
Continuing concern for the welfare of Terry Waite, the Archbishop of Canterbury's Secretary for Anglican Communion Affairs, was expressed by the Council in a resolution which gave thanks to God for his courageous witness. Waite disappeared over three months ago while acting as the envoy of Archbishop Robert Runcie in negotiations for the release of hostages in Lebanon.
The council praised the church's courageous witness in his care and concern for the victims of injustice and oppression.
Noting with sadness the suffering of all the people in the Lebanon, it condemned the detention of innocent people against their will, there and in other parts of the world. The Council supported the Archbishop of Canterbury in his attempts to ensure the return of Waite.
Archdeacon Yong Ping Chung, Chairman of the Council, has sent a message to Mrs. Frances Waite conveying members' love and prayers. Waite, well known to members of ACC, has attended two previous meetings of the Council.
ACC-7 voiced its support for the first International Anglican Youth Gathering, which will be held at Stranmillis College, Belfast, from Jan. 3-8, 1988.
Some 350 young people are expected to attend the Gathering, which will be hosted by the Church of Ireland. Before the conference, participants will stay with families in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
The Council also recommended that a newly-constituted Mission Issues and Strategy Advisory Group (MISAG-2) review the Church's mission. Such a review would acknowledge the multi-cultural society in which the church is set; encourage collaboration with other Christian bodies; and, since spiritual, social and physical elements are indivisible in Christian belief, link evangelism with development.
The Rev. Canon Colin Craston (Church of England) has been elected Vice-Chairman of the Anglican Consultative Council to serve at ACC-8, which will be held in Wales in 1990, and at ACC-9 in l993.
The main work of the Council during the week has been carried out in groups, organized around the themes of Mission and Ministry, Dogmatic and Pastoral Concerns, Ecumenical Relations, and Christianity and the Social Order. Each Section presented its initial reports to the full Council. These reports included the groups' discussion on the issue of Authority in the Anglican Communion. Current structures provide for meetings of the Lambeth Conference of Bishops every ten years, the Anglican Consultative Council every three years and of the Primates every three years. The groups' reports evidenced a need to review these structures. A special committee of the council was appointed to consolidate this aspect of the discussion and report back within a week.
That this Council, re-affirming its belief that apartheid is an evil, racist system and recognizing the injustice and suffering it causes:
| 1. | Condemns the detention without charge or trial of many people including children in South Africa, isolating them from their families; and further expresses support for those within the country who are protesting at this inhumane action; |
| 2. | Reaffirms its solidarity with all those who are suffering for a just society in South Africa in which the peoples of all races will share on terms of equality the responsibility of government and the full benefits of citizenship; |
| 3. | Encourages its member churches to -- (a) continue their prayers and support for the peoples of Southern Africa in their struggle for justice and peace; (b) press their governments to introduce effective sanctions against the Government of South Africa until a genuine process of change in political structures is initiated; (c) urge business and financial institutions within their jurisdictions to disinvest and disengage from the South African economy; (d) ensure that none of their own financial resources is used to support the present regime in South Africa and for this purpose to disinvest from all corporations which have q financial stake in South Africa: |
| 4. | Urge the Government of South Africa to -- (a) bring the present State of Emergency to an end; (b) release without delay all political prisoners; including Nelson Mandela; (c) release without delay all those who have been detained without trial, especially the children; (d) enter into serious negotiation with authentic leaders of all races to prepare a new Constitution; |
| 5. | (a) Re-affirms resolutions on Namibia passed at ACC-F expressing the Council's solidarity with the people of Namibia in their struggle for independence and calling on the South African Government to carry out the terms of United Nations Resolutions 435; (b) further calls on the Provinces of the Communion to report to the Standing Committee of the ACC on action taken on Namibia within their Provinces; |
| 6. | Affirms it solidarity with the frontline states in their efforts to secure a just solution to the problems of South Africa and Namibia and condemns the unprovoked acts of aggression on some frontline states by the South African government. |
| 7. | Directs the Secretary General to convey to the Archbishop of Cape mown, the Bishop of Namibia, the Secretary of the South African Council of Churches and the Christian Council of Churches of Namibia, copies of this resolution, together with an assurance of the Council's continued support for them and for those whom they represent at this critical time in the history of Southern Africa. |