Rwandan Politics Intrudes on American Church

I hope ++Kolini should resend his pressure on the congregation. I do pray All Souls uses this incident to open dialog on the one issue Africa needs to grasp for political stability and maybe what we can give back for the godly oversight, which is toleration of political descent and how to handle criticism without the temptation of use of power to crush it.

This isn’t right.  If this article is accurate (and what is the President of Rwanda watching who is speaking at American churches - that’s just weird) and the facts are true, this isn’t right.  This is exactly what TEC activists want to see (and with the recent media incidents, we have to wonder about that, okay?)  - and I find it incredible that the President of Rwanda has nothing better to do than to see who is speaking at churches in America.  That’s bizarre. 

bb

Sad business BB, that’s for sure.

BB, et al.
I caution you not to criticize without facts.  I know ++Kolini, having stayed in his compound on two medical mission trips to Kigali and spending many hours with both him and his wife socially and in church events.  There is a tight bond between him and the president going back to the genocide days.  He is not an impetuous or compulsive man.  Trust him on this.  Peace.

Looks like someone else’s words slipped in to my submission.  Delete all between mission trips and Kigali.

I did not go to primates conf in ‘06.  I went to Kigali.

Forget it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is explanatory commentary posted at T19 in regard to this by Dr. Alan Jacobs, our former Sr. Warden at All Souls’ (currently our catechist).  The gist of the commentary is that it was a request, not an order, by Archbishop Kolini, and we chose to be obedient to his request, recognizing that we know very little about what the political ramifications of our actions here might mean for our brothers and sisters there.  As we learned back in 2003, what we do has consequences for our global church.  We have received much from the church in Rwanda and have chosen to honor their request in return.  Rest assured that, as a church that places a high priority on education, we have already begun to seek out answers to the questions this has raised.  Ever more to be learned…

Ann McCarthy, this sounds like a very adult and appropriate response on the part on your parish.  You have accepted +Rwanda’s oversight, and you owe him respect and serious consideration of all his requests.  Very seldom do Americans know all the intricacies of what’s going on in a foreign country.  If you have a godly bishop, following his lead rather than taking the individualistic American line is the right thing to do, at a minimum pending getting a more thorough understanding of the issue.

As a friend of All Souls’ Church, I want to thank Ann McCarthy for her succinct and very accurate summary of the situation, and say a hearty “Amen” to Katherine for her observation, which rings very true to me.  The new international relationships within the Anglican communion will require a definite learning curve, and well-meaning American churches in communion with the Global South will occasionally walk over hidden metaphorical land mines, but the difficulties and occasional perplexities are I think worth it, given the alternatives.

Katherine and DuPage Anglican - thanks for the support.  It’s been an interesting week of exercising obedience and humility, unpublicizing events, and learning that the world is indeed “flat.”  We do live in interesting times. ;>)