02/03/2009

We wait to see


Bishop Cleophas Lunga of Matabeleland

From Anglican Information

MALAWI...Diocese of Upper Shire We have consistently reported extreme disquiet over the choice by the Central African Provincial bishops of the next bishop of Upper Shire diocese. There have been worries about their imposed candidate’s (The Rev’d Brighton Malasa) extreme youth. This has been coupled with serious accusations against him from parishes in the diocese regarding morals and embezzlement... ‘drunkenness, sexual immorality and misuse of church funds’.

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION hopes that wiser counsel may have prevailed, at least for the moment. As our correspondent reports:

‘The Court of Confirmation has been cancelled until a later date, not known as yet. The people here (in Upper Shire) are jubilant and praise the Lord for this cancellation. The question people have is why is there still to be another date when what they written is full of truth. They (the bishops) should just cancel the Court indefinitely because the imposed bishop has been rejected by parishes and especially by his home and own Cathedral parish of Mpondasi- Mangochi district. If a wife or own child tell people that dad soils the beddings is it true or not? The appointment was a disgrace to Upper Shire as far as behaviour of the proposed bishop is concerned. The Provincial bishops who made the appointment were and are blind and they need light to see. If they had evaluated Malasa’s term of office as Vicar General for the twelve months he worked they would have seen the problems. What type of leaders are they in this Province? Please remember us.’

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION observes that the attempt to ‘slip in’ the Court of Confirmation far away from the candidate’s diocese under the guise of a gathering in Zimbabwe did not allow the people (who could not possibly travel so far) to be represented. Ever since the disastrous Diocese of Lake Malawi Court of Confirmation in November 2005 (the consequences of which are still ongoing) Provincial Courts of Confirmation in the Central African Province have gained a reputation for ‘fixing’.

ZIMBABWE....Diocese of Matabeleland A welcome exception to the controversies of other episcopal elections in the Province also took place in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe this Sunday, 1st March as the bishops gathered for the consecration and enthronement of The Rev’d Cleophas Lunga. Lunga, a Zimbabwean who has been working in Coventry diocese, UK for the past five years as Team Rector of the Caludon Team Ministry was elected without controversy to the Diocese of Matabeleland last November. The Bishop of Coventry, Dr Christopher Cocksworth has said of Lunga, ‘he is an excellent priest who has given a great deal to the Diocese of Coventry.’

8 comments:

  1. Sorry that your picture of Cleophas Lunga doesn't seem to be loading?

    What can I say, are there some faint signs that common sense might be emerging in the Provincial House of Bishops?

    As for Zimbabwe....the Mugabe regime, to my way of thinking seems stronger than ever with Morgan Tsvangirai not even to get his own supporters out of prison.

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  2. Well that was a quick response - I checked your site minutes after blogging and Cleophas Lunga's photograph has now appeared!

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  3. Nothing to do with me. I also saw it wasn't loading and then, when I'd finished the long post above, there it was again.

    Let us give thanks to the little gods of html.

    As to Zimbabwe you're right. I've not blogged on Zimbabwe partly because it all seems confused, befogged and, if anything, less hopeful.

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  4. It's vanished again (the photograph of Cleophas Lunga) by the way....I hope it's not presaging something!

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  5. Thank you penwatch. I was having trouble with the photo too. Thank you also Not the Same Stream, I am a regular reader.

    It was the 19th century playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton who first coined the phrase 'The pen is mightier than the sword'. He had nothing whatsoever to do with Africa, but he was right. As penwatch observes, could it be that Anglican Information's efforts are paying off in exposing the saga in Central Africa. Could it be that the bishops have actually listened to the people? Probably not but .........

    True, This! —
    Beneath the rule of men entirely great,
    The pen is mightier than the sword. Behold
    The arch-enchanters wand! — itself a nothing! —
    But taking sorcery from the master-hand
    To paralyse the Cæsars, and to strike
    The loud earth breathless! — Take away the sword —
    States can be saved without it!

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  6. Observer, this is a timely comment.

    I am entirely cynical about the effect of any particular writing - not least because there is so much of it heading in so many contrary directions. Yet I carry on.

    I do hope Anglican Information is having an effect, but I see little evidence to date. Though maybe the nature of things is that there will never be evidence.

    Do you think Bulwer-Lytton meant writings, or literacy? I wonder whether it's the fact that the laity of Upper Shire and Lake Malawi are making their collective voices heard that has the greater effect?

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  7. Dear Paul Bagshaw

    Thank you. I'm just being a bit clever quoting Bulwer-Lytton, don't take me too seriously but I am convinced that what you are doing and Ang Inf for that matter does have an effect. Where else is this this important news from a small often-forgotten country going to come from? I'm sure the people there are glad to be remembered.

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