"Can we with integrity profess allegiance to the Chair of Augustine if we cannot get a chance to sit in it?" The Rt. Rev. Sehon Goodridge, recently consecrated Bishop of the Windward Islands, posed this question in his keynote address delivered at the second International Conference on Afro-Anglicanism, held in Cape Town, South Africa, in January.

Bishop Goodridge, of the Church in the Province in the West Indies, was discussing the dilemma of the nature of the See of Canterbury. One argument, he pointed out, is that the office, to be truly reflective of the global Anglican family, must be open to non-Englishmen. The other argument is that the Archbishop of Canterbury, being constitutionally responsible for crowning the British monarch, must always reflect the British personality.

The conference, a sequel to one held in Barbados in 1985, continued to develop a theology, an ecclesiology and a missiology reflective of this paradigm shift. In his opening address, the Rev. Harold T. Lewis, conference coordinator, made reference to Bishop Reginald Heber's missionary hymn, "From Greenland's Icy Mountains." He suggested that the line "They call us to deliver their land from error's chain" is now a challenge to those in Africa and in the African diaspora to free from racism and oppression those lands which sent forth missionaries in the first place.

Others who addressed the conference included the Rev. Nan A. Peete, of Trinity Parish, New York City; and the Rev. Canon Cyril Okorocha, evangelism officer of the Anglican Consultative Council in London.

The Rt. Rev. Wilfred Wood, Bishop of Croydon, read a message from the Archbishop of Canterbury, which said in part: "The growing witness of the African tradition within the Communion is one of the most remarkable and exciting signs of the past 30 years. That you have gathered together from so many parts of the world at this time to celebrate your common roots, and I hope to challenge one another and us all with your discussions and your resolutions, is very encouraging."

Such challenges took place among the 250 delegates - lay persons, theologians, bishops, clergy, seminarians, evangelists, teachers, youth workers - who came from virtually every province on the African continent, from England, the U.S., Bermuda, Haiti, the West Indies, Central and South America, and Papua New Guinea.

In a daily segment entitled "Afro-Anglican Mosaics," delegates from Rwanda shared the problems faced by the church in that land beset by tribal warfare; bishops from Nigeria recounted the challenges presented by the incursion of Islam; Americans talked about the church's work among people with AIDS; South Africans spoke to the church's role in the struggle to dismantle apartheid.

The meeting place also afforded delegates the opportunity to celebrate the miracle of the new South Africa. During the conference, delegates stayed overnight in parishioners' homes, and participated in worship in parishes throughout the Diocese of Cape Town. Archbishop Desmond Tutu received delegates at a reception at Bishopscourt, and presided and preached at the closing Eucharist in St. George's Cathedral. In his sermon, he thanked his fellow Anglicans who prayed and fought for the eradication of apartheid.

"Despite the poverty, despite the fact that not a great deal has changed materially, there is something in the air, that we have a new, a free South Africa!"

(The Rev. Canon) HAROLD T. LEWIS