wfn.org | Archbishop of Canterbury to Visit Egypt and Sudan

[rollins@intac.com]

10/5/95
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon James M. Rosenthal, Director of Communications
Anglican Communion News Service
157 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8UT, England
Tel. 44 0171 620-1110    jim.rosenthal@ecunet.org
Fax 44 0171 620-1071

#739 ACC

Archbishop of Canterbury to Visit Egypt and Sudan, 1-9 October 1995

The Archbishop, accompanied by Mrs Carey; the Rt Revd John Dennis,
Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, his Bishop for Oriental
Orthodox Affairs; the Revd Dr Richard Marsh, Archbishop's Secretary
for Ecumenical Affairs and Canon Andrew Deuchar, Archbishop's
Secretary for Anglican Communion Affairs, will visit Egypt as a
guest of the Episcopal Church and its Bishop, the Rt Revd Ghais
Abdul Malik from 1-6 October.

During his visit he will preach at Episcopal services in both Cairo
and Alexandria and visit social projects of the Episcopal Church in
and around Cairo and at Menouf.

During his time in Egypt it is expected that he will pay courtesy
calls on senior members of both national and local government. He
will also visit the Sheikh of al-Azajr and the Grand Mufti of Cairo
together with other significant Muslim leaders.

The friendship between the Anglican Communion and the Coptic
Orthodox Church is long-standing and so the Archbishop will pay a
courtesy call on Pope Shenouda III and will visit Coptic monasteries
in the Wadi-al-Natroun.  It is also expected that he will visit the
monastery of St Catherine's on Sinai and meet Patriarch Pathenios of
Alexandria and All-Africa, together with leaders of the Coptic
Catholic and Coptic Protestant Churches.

The Archbishop let it be known, at the time of the cancellation of
his visit to Khartoum in 1994, of his distress at the disappointment
caused to Christians in the North of Sudan, and that he hoped that
he would be able to reinstate the visit before too long.

The opportunity has now arisen because the Archbishop of Sudan, the
Most Reverend Benjamin Yugusuk, has announced his intention to
retire.  Archbishop Yugusuk has a record of extraordinary courage
and commitment to his people during repeated attacks on his home
town, and diocesan base, Juba. For a considerable time, the
Archbishop's home was a shallow trench, from which he exercised
devoted pastoral care for the thousands of displaced people in the
area, walking for many miles into the bush, in the face of much
personal danger, to be with them.  He was also responsible for
leading the two wings of the Anglican Church, which had split in
1985, to reconciliation.

Dr Carey wishes to recognise the contribution of Archbishop Yugusuk
to the life of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, and indeed to the
whole Anglican Communion, and will do so during a day visit to Juba
on Sunday 8 October.

During the other two days of his visit he will meet Anglican bishops
in Khartoum, as well as leaders of other Churches. He will also
address an open-air service.

Whilst in Juba, he will visit a camp for displaced people, and on
Monday 9 October will visit Mandela camp on the southern outskirts
of Khartoum. During his visit he will pay a courtesy call on the
President of Sudan, and will have discussions with other
representatives of the regime at an informal meeting of the
committee for Inter-Religious Dialogue, and a lunch given by the
Speaker of the National Assembly.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is visiting Sudan at the invitation of
the Archbishop of Sudan, and will be staying in Khartoum at the
Episcopal Church Guest House. He will be accompanied for this part
of the trip by Mrs Carey; the Bishop of Ramsbury, representing the
Salisbury Diocese, with whom Sudan has been linked for over twenty
years; the Reverend Andy Wheeler, of the Church Mission Society; and
Canon Andrew Deuchar, Archbishop's Secretary for Anglican Communion
Affairs. Mr Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications for the
Anglican Communion, will also travel with the party.