wfn.org | ACNS - Rwandan archbishop backs away from offer to conservative clergy

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ACNS 3057 - CANADA - 12 July 2002

Rwandan archbishop backs away from offer to conservative clergy

by Leanne Larmondin

[The Anglican Church of Canada] The Rwandan archbishop who wrote to 12
conservative New Westminster clergy last week with an offer of
"ecclesiastical protection" now says the offer was a misunderstanding.

Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini, primate of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda and
diocesan Bishop of Kigali, said in an interview that he has sent the clergy
a follow-up letter to clarify that while he supports them and will continue
to examine the matter, he was not offering to become their bishop.

One of those clergy, Revd Ed Hird, however, said the letter of clarification
only complained about a headline added to his message which suggested he had
promised ecclesiastical protection. Mr Hird said the archbishop clarified
that he was only offering the possibility of ecclesiastical protection, a
responsibility which he would share with others.

"He doesn't want to act alone, and we understand that," said Mr Hird, whose
group of eight parishes and 12 clergy, now calling itself the Anglican
Communion in New Westminster, was asking even before the diocesan synod for
the appointment of another bishop to minister to them. Such an appointment
is called alternative episcopal oversight.

Neither Archbishop Kolini nor Mr Hird would provide a copy of the
archbishop's second letter, an unusual refusal for the conservative clergy,
who have made public an enormous amount of correspondence regarding their
standing in the diocese.

In his original message, posted June 27 on the Prayer Book Society of
Canada's Web site, Archbishop Kolini extended "the welcoming hand of
Christian fellowship, shared concern, ready support and tangible assistance"
to the eight New Westminster parishes which walked out of the June 15
diocesan synod after the vote in favour of same-sex blessings.

"We deeply regret the threats toward you and numerous others concerning your
clerical licences," the letter read. "Please know that we will not recognise
any such efforts.

"We are also willing to share with others the possibility of ecclesiastical
protection."

At the time, New Westminster bishop Michael Ingham declared the offer
"meaningless" since the archbishop has no jurisdiction in Canada. The
Rwandan archbishop now says the offer of ecclesiastical protection was taken
out of context.

"I wrote it as a word of encouragement, not as an offer of episcopal
oversight," said Archbishop Kolini. "That doesn't mean we keep quiet."

The archbishop said he would continue to "look into the matter" and discuss
with other primates "any counsel we can give."

While he has not yet spoken with any other primates about the matter,
Archbishop Kolini said he expected it was being widely discussed at the
meeting of the Future of Anglicanism, taking place in Oxford, England June
30 through July 5.

Archbishop Kolini and the church in Rwanda have long had ties with the
Anglican Church of Canada, with the latter providing funding for development
and relief to the country. The national church's partnerships department has
traditionally provided $15,000 to the Rwandan church and the Primate's World
Relief and Development Fund, which shares its offices with the national
church and supports development projects there, including a food security
project and an orphanage.

Rob Shropshire, PWRDF's development team co-ordinator, knows Archbishop
Kolini as well as anybody in the Canadian church. His history with the
archbishop dates back to 1991, when he was hired by the primate's fund to
staff its Africa desk and Archbishop Kolini was a new bishop in the diocese
of Shaba, in the Anglican Church of Zaire (now known as Congo).

"I met him as part of the Anglican Church of Canada's response to a call
from the Anglican Communion to establish closer contacts with
French-speaking Anglicans," said Mr Shropshire.

The two men have met about a dozen times over the years, including once in
2000 after Archbishop Kolini and Archbishop Moses Tay of Singapore ordained
two US priests as missionary bishops to minister to conservatives in the
United States. Those consecrations were widely condemned as "irregular" in
the Anglican Communion and the Canadian primate, Archbishop Michael Peers,
was quoted as saying "Bishops are not intercontinental ballistic missiles,
manufactured on one continent and fired into another as an act of
aggression."

The following year, Archbishop Kolini and Archbishop Datuk Yong Ping Chung
of South East Asia consecrated four more US bishops. They are part of the
breakaway Anglican Mission in America.

In the fall of 2000, Mr Shropshire personally delivered a message to
Archbishop Kolini from PWRDF asking him to clarify press statements that the
Rwandan church did not consider itself in communion with those churches
which did not endorse a 1997 statement about sexual sin (including
homosexual practices between men or women).

While the Rwandan church did not respond directly to the request for
clarification, Archbishop Kolini told Mr Shropshire that Rwandan Anglicans
would not accept church leaders questioning the authority of the Bible.

"He also said that, as part of the Anglican Communion, he must listen to
others and take care of those who are concerned when the authority of
Scripture is called into question."

Mr Shropshire, who describes the archbishop as a good communicator who
"seems to be a compassionate man", said he questioned Archbishop Kolini's
priorities.

Speaking a day before he was scheduled to travel to Rwanda and Burundi, Mr
Shropshire said he is surprised the Rwandan archbishop is involved in the
affairs of the Anglican Church in Canada and the US when his own church has
so many problems of its own.

Archbishop Kolini was studying in the United States in 1994 when an
estimated 800,000 people died in Rwanda in a genocide. Several church
leaders, including bishops, were implicated in the genocide and many fled
the country in exile, including the then-archbishop.

"Those problems should be priority issues," said Mr Shropshire. "I wonder,
where is the call from the church in Rwanda to the Anglican Communion to
work with them on peace, justice and reconciliation issues? Why aren't we
hearing that call instead of a call around issues of gays and lesbians in
the church in the United States and Canada?"

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