wfn.org | LIBERIA: BISHOP RETURNS

[Audrey Whitefield <a.whitefield@quest.org.uk>]

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Jan. 27, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications 
Anglican Communion Office
London, England

[97.1.4.3]

LIBERIA: BISHOP RETURNS

(from a report by James Thrall in ENS) Torn by the remnants of civil war
between rival rebel groups, Liberia remains an unstable and dangerous
country, but the return of Bishop Edward Neufville, the Anglican
diocesan
bishop in January marked a significant step toward reestablishing normal
life for the country's Anglican churches.

Bishop Neufville was consecrated bishop of the Diocese of Liberia last
year
but was forced to flee the country when religious leaders were targeted
during a fresh outbreak of fighting in April last year. In an interview
before he left the United States for his return, Bishop Neufville said
that
he was pleased with the resilience of the Liberian congregations during
the
past difficult year, and was excited to be taking up his interrupted
role
again.

Bishop Neufville said that he was looking forward to presiding at a
diocesan convention in early February, and also that he had hopes of
resuscitating the diocesan newspaper, The Liberian Churchman.

Outreach to refugees will continue. Last Autumn, Bishop Neufville spent
several months visiting refugee camps in western Africa. He praised the
work of Liberian priests who have established
congregations among the thousands of people displaced by the war. "I was
quite encouraged by the resilience of the refugees," he said.

The Bishop also visited Monrovia during his Autumn tour of the region.
We
discovered to our horror that the destruction in Liberia is quite
massive,"
he said. While  the bishop's office was intact, most of the office
equipment, including telephones and typewriters, as well as diocesan
vehicles, had been looted. The diocesan cathedral also was damaged.
There
has also been extensive damage and pillage to the Episcopal Cuttington
University College.