Schismatics Find a Home

Isn’t Congo the country harboring the Rwandan Genocide perpetrators?

That’s the eastern provinces of the Congo, Wonders. Well, at least Chuck Murphy and his friends are no longer literally episcopi vagantes, since PEAR now has an Anglican jurisdiction to release them to, but oh my what this is doing to the reputation of this particular part of the Anglican continuum (which surely no longer only applies to the people that left over WO)!

I am…surprised.

I hope everyone adopts the model of the Global South primates (or the Roman Curia for that matter) and moves SLOWLY, whether to analyse or criticise.  In particular, we should remember that Congolese Anglicans do it very tough (heck, almost all Congolese of any faith or none at all do it much tougher than we will ever have to contemplate).  They are real heroes for the faith.

Personally, I have not been very impressed with the actions of +Murphy and his fellow bishops in this AMiA break-up.  Watching it unfold, decisions made and relationships broken or amended without informing congregations, clergy or sometimes even the bishops of the AM until weeks after the events, was quite sad.

But if they are going to seek a relationship with an established jurisdiction, then I see that as a positive step.  They could have gone out on their own, but obviously there are enough people in AMiA who wish to remain in the Anglican fold.  Good.

We don’t know what the story is with the relationship between AMiA and Province de l’Église anglicane du Congo.  We don’t know if this is being done with the approval of the other African primates (it is possible that it is).  Yes, I am conscious of a risk that ++Isingoma and his province are being used.  But they do have close contacts with Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya, and hopefully those provinces will help to make sure that they are properly looked after.

I don’t see this is as a positive step at all. It is like the adulterer who is threatened with discipline in one congregation skipping to the next congregation where he is accepted without question.

Here is the news on the bongo:
Failed in Rwanda, try the Congo

This was the natural next step for the AMiA.  They *had* to have another province for cover, they knew it, and they got one.

Back in December of 2011 I said:

RE: “A pragmatist would have Plan B, C, D, E, F, and G ready for implementation P R I O R to jettisoning all the mooring lines.”

AR—I have no doubt that Bishop Murphy had set some balls in motion before his public announcement of resignation.

He’s a smart guy.  He’ll have plenty of options.  I’m guessing I know a couple of them too.

This was so so so predictable and one could see it coming from miles away.

The sad thing is that now more “Anglican bishops” can be sprouted and more untethered Anglican looniness and dysfunction dispersed.

So it all spreads.

The only thing organizational entities can do is throw up the barricades and tend to their own vineyards, making as certain as they can that they are working on their own organization’s integrity, credibility, and boundaries.

Abp Kolini was a bishop in Congo before becoming primate in Rwanda. 
I’ve serious misgivings about the Rwanda-AMiA split, but there is no situation beyond God’s redemption.  God used the AMiA-Rwanda relationship in the rebuilding of the church after the genocide.  Who knows how God will use the AMiA-Congo relationship in the future? 
The Congo is one of the most tragic places on earth.  The Congo has perhaps more natural resources than any nation in the world (minerals in the Rift Valley).  Yet, it is impoverished.  The minerals have been exploited by outsiders.  It is a land of incredible internal conflict, probably the most destructive civil war in history.  I believe the highest rape rate in the world is in the Congo.  The Congo was not part of the East African revival in centuries past.
God works in mysterious ways.  I suspect that AMiA will find ministry in the Congo more challenging than in Rwanda because the government is less stable.  I pray that AMiA will not abandon the Congo.  May God use this relationship for the establishment of His kingdom on earth.  May AMiA be a blessing to the Congo and the Congo be a blessing to AMiA.  I bless them both.

Matt, I just read your very well written editorial What’s the Harm.  I agree that sin was involved in the schism between AMiA and Rwanda.  I leave AMiA leaders and Rwandan leaders to God’s judgment and mercy. 
God can redeem the relationship between AMiA and Rwanda and AMiA and Congo, though it may well be in future generations.  Henry VIII sinned when he broke from Rome, but through the centuries God has managed to use the Anglican Communion for the establishment of His kingdom on earth. 
The current Anglican leaders won’t live forever.  Human failings contributed to the need for a relationship between AMiA and Congo, but God is far bigger than our human failings.

I was dismayed when the AMiA decided…...actually on short notice…...to leave the ACNA for Rwanda, rather than remain with us…...leaving me to wonder about their committment to orthodox Anglicanism in this continent.  Amost as if our brand of Anglicanism wasn’t good enough.

#1 They no longer have the “form” of vagantes, but it is quite apparent they maintain the heart and spirit of the breed!

Sorry, my comment (#11) was in response to #2.

So what was all that talk about Africa being Egypt and leaving Pharoah and reverse colonialism and so on?

So far, the only document I have seen is yet another letter from Chuck Murphy- has there been either a statement from the Archbishop or HoB of Congo, or for that matter, Rwanda?

If I have learned nothing else in the past few months, I have learned to take all press releases issued from Pawley’s Island with a grain of salt.  I think we need to hear from the African Churches before coming to any conclusions.

TJ

Good point, TJ.

I see that Joel Martin has said what I wanted to say at #13 much more completely.  I’ve never understood the linking rules around here but he’s in the Anglican section of “Around the Web” above.

Given the swiftness of all this from the meetings in Kenya to the statement from Rwanda to this all happening within about a month, I think this move was a “make the best of a bad situation” one which came in to play somewhere in the past few weeks.

I hope Murphy has learned something from this fiasco.  From the communique, it doesn’t seem so.  Given that ACNA exists, I would hope that eventually these various foreign oversight arrangements would go away by design in a period of a few years.  Given that he’s been given this chance, I hope it’s made clear that he’d best not blow up this one.

One of the associate priests in my parish is/was a priest in the pre-schism AMIA. I asked him his opinion of Bp Murphy’s group’s shenanigans and which “jurisdiction” he was going to keep his AMIA papers with. He replied in a rather long-suffering tone of voice that he truly no longer paid any attention to any of it, or them.

In reading through these comments, I am having a flashback to what was said about us when we left TEC.  The same lack of charity, lacking only the references to chicken dinners.

This will not end well.

http://www.therscproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/ad-460x383.jpg

Tjmcmahon at #14,

Good question.  A few days ago the text of a letter from ++Isingoma to +Murphy was posted on a number of sites.  This is it:

**********************************
SYNODE PROVINCIAL ET COLLEGE DES EVEQUES

Primat: Mgr Isingoma K. Henri

To: Chairman of the Anglican Mission in the America

Concern: Petition from AMiA Easter integration/Province of the Anglican Church of Congo

Dear Bishop Murphy,

May peace and grace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, be with you.

We thank you for your letter with AMiA petition in regard to the transfer of its canonical authority out of the Province of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda. We equally thank you for having entrusted the Province of the Anglican Church of Congo with this petition.

Therefore,

- Considering that your petition reaches us during the Holy Week, a significant moment of spiritual retreat in front of the Cross of our Lord, longing for His resurrection that explains the origin of the church and its existence as the Body of Christ ;

- Considering your determination to remain a member of the Anglican Communion insptite of the differences of opinion among its members and the current acute crisis it undergoes;

- Considering the length of your mission and the positive outcome of its missionary work in training Christ’s disciples in the USA in order to safeguard the evangelic faith that we all confess ;

- Taking into account the nature of your request to temporarily settle in the Province of the Anglican Church of Congo in order to safeguard the existence of your Mission and to establish its perennial presence in the Anglican Communion;

- Hoping for an appropriate solution within the Communion for a final affiliation of your Mission to one of its provincial entities;

- Deeply hoping that the provisional attachment of your Mission to the Province of the Anglican Church of Congo will not in any way break its long date relationship with the sister-Province of Rwanda and other missionary agencies in the USA and that this letter initiates a reconciliation process between your Mission and other entities where our Province intends to play a major role;

In the light of all this, we agree to welcome you in our Province as you request in your petition while you move on in normalizing your position as a plausible Anglican missionary society. As to the nature and the modality of the canonical power transfer, all this will be discussed when we meet in the United Kingdom along with other bishops from the Province of the Anglican Church of Congo who will be in attendance.

In communion in Easter prayers and celebration,

Yours in Christ,

The Most Rev. Isingoma K. Henri,
Archbishop of the Province of the Anglican Church of Congo

**************************************

What I find interesting is that the relationship is said to be “temporary”, pending “an appropriate solution within the Communion for a final affiliation of your Mission to one of its provincial entities”.  That is not quite the impression given by +Murphy’s original press release.

++Isingoma hopes “that this letter initiates a reconciliation process between your Mission and other entities where our Province intends to play a major role”.  So, the “Primat Congo” believes that AMiA has some relationships to repair…

And, its all going to be discussed in detail “when we meet in the United Kingdom along with other bishops from the Province of the Anglican Church of Congo who will be in attendance.”  But, that most likely means at the Gafcon meeting starting in London on Monday.  It is not surprising that primate Congo and his bishops would be there: Congo is not officially a member of Gafcon, but as a province it depends heavily on four neighbouring provinces who are all active in Gafcon: Rwanda, Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya.

So, this “temporary arrangement” is going to be discussed next week between the Primates and bishops of Congo and Rwanda, among others. It will be interesting to see what happens.