Africa Elects First Anglican Woman Bishop: In South Africa!
July 19, 2012 7 Comments
And who said the Ordinariate would never come to Africa? Perhaps it’s time for an urgent rethink?
The Rev. Ellinah Wamukoya elected Bishop of Swaziland.
Africa has elected its first female Anglican bishop. On 18 July 2012 an Elective Assembly meeting in Mbabane elected the Rev. Ellinah Wamukoya as fifth Bishop of the Diocese of Swaziland.
Bishop-elect Wamukoya (61) will be the first female Anglican bishop in Africa and the continent’s second female bishop of a mainline church – in 2008 the Rt. Rev. Joaquina Nhanala was elected the Methodist bishop of Mozambique.
Educated at the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland, the new bishop has exercised a bi-vocational ministry. She serves as Anglican chaplain at the University of Swaziland and at St Michael’s High School in Manzini. Bishop-elect Wamukoya is also the Town Clerk and CEO of the City Council of the town of Manzini and is a skilled and seasoned financial administrator.
The new bishop enters the stage at a difficult moment in the political and ecclesial life of Swaziland. Her predecessor, the Rt. Rev. Meshack Mabuza has been a sharp critic of King Mswati III, the last absolute monarch in sub-Saharan Africa. King Mswati has ruled the landlocked mountain kingdom since 1986 and has been denounced by church and civil society leaders for mismanagement of the economy. The king also has earned a public image as a profligate ruler unconcerned with his subjects’ poverty.
Read on at Anglican Ink.
See here’s the thing. The Ordinariate is about providing a safe refuge for (former) Anglicans, who in good conscience, cannot go along with the theological malaise and error that has become such a characteristic of what Anglicanism now is. In this instance, you either believe that woman priestesses (and now, Bishopesses) are Biblical and sacerdotally acceptable, or you do not (cf. 1 Tim. 2:11–14). And if you depart from the apostolic Church and Biblical teachings (that they are not), then what is there to stop you from believing whatever other erroneous doctrines you see fit or choose to believe in? The greatest errors come from the smallest deviations/changes and the Episcopalian Church in the US now stands as a stark testimony to this very reality. I’ve come to see and learn, slowly, that it is all about authority, and the biggest problem is in the area of, and in the requirement for, obedience.
Dissent comes easy. But it just as easily turns ugly… and sinful. And there is a great need to flee from that which is wrong, to truth and light. The beleaguered faithful, assailed, trying, and burdened by usurping liberalism, will sooner rather than later, need to find relief and comfort from the storm. And where will that safe place be? Where will help come from?
Not so long ago Fr Peter Geldard called it in the Portal Magazine. Speculating on future Ordinariates, he stated and asked:
When I visited South Africa in the past, I was often reminded of Archbishop Fisher’s words that the Anglican Church there once “was the jewel in the Anglo-Catholic crown”.
Is anyone in that Province listening and responding. . . I wonder?’
The Diocese of Swaziland with its Bishopess-elect is slap bang in the middle of South Africa, and part of the Province of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. So, Father Peter, we may soon enough get to see just who is ‘listening and responding’… If there was ever justification for Anglo-Catholics in Africa questioning their doctrinal position, then this has to be it!
Rev Ellinah Wamukoya’s position in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (if you still need further proof) is here.
UPDATE: Anglican Communion News Service covers the above news, and the Episcopal Church rejoices:
The Rev. Canon Petero A. N. Sabune, Africa Partnership officer for the Episcopal Church, writes:
What a glorious day of Joy and wonder for the people of Africa. I was at the Synod in Swaziland in 1992, when the vote was taken to ordain women. The Synod was chaired by The Most Reverend And Metropolitan, Archbishop Mphilo Desmond Tutu and there were tears of joy and thanksgiving. At the Synod last year, Thabo the current Primate lamented on how few dioceses have women priests.This is the day the Lord has made let us Rejoice and be Glad ! Amen
About Fr Stephen Smuts
So, who would be interested in an Ordinariate in South Africa? The new TAC has said “Thanks but no thanks” to Anglicanorum coetibus. Are most Canterbury Anglicans in South Africa more of the evangelical type? Or more like Archbishop Desmond Tutu?
Canterbury Anglicans, bar some orthodox remnants, are definitely liberals in the ilk of ++Tutu. A fantastic liberator, reconciler and peace broker he was. Sadly, theologically, he’s a lightweight liberal heretic. The evangelicals are the Church of England in South Africa, but they are not in communion with Canterbury and Reformed.
What is needed is a first bridgehead somewhere in the country; but it is a complicated manoeuvre. At the risk of being unkind, there are only two diocesan Latin Masses in the whole country (Johannesburg – in the cathedral – and Port Elizabeth). Where the hierarchy do not want Summorum Pontificum, they are rarely fond of Anglicanorum Coetibus – both being key parts of the Pope’s plan for re-evangelisation of Catholics. So with a Catholic hierarchy apparently indifferent at best (my apologies, Your Lordships, if I am wrong, but here in the States, this is how your actions are perceived -we will all be happy to have this disproved!), and two parallel but hostile Anglican jurisdictions. In the face of that, Ordinariate-minded Anglicans in SA (if such exist) will require two things: Rome’s direct attention, and heroism. Certainly (from my point of view) the Bishopesses in SA should both get Rome’s attention and alert sleepy local Anglicans as to where they are headed. As for those South Africans fearful of the nation’s slide into Third World status, be not afraid! Wherever your economy goes, the ACPSA’s (or whatever they are now) theological vagaries show that you remain firmly embedded in the West mentally!
Well, there ya go once again with modern/postmodern Anglicanism, to blazes with the Holy Writ! But we all knew it was coming! This is perhaps just the tip of the iceburg?
The Anglicans in South Africa voted for women bishops the same year as the Church of Ireland. Ironically the conservative “Anglicans” are in a church called the Church of England in South Africa ( CESA) and not part of the Anglican Communion.. they have no ordained women but allow lay celebration. They have a prayer book which has eliminated Catholic in the creed, refutes any hint of a real presence in the prayer of Humble access, and baptismal regeneration.CEESA was represented at GAFCON…. by the way they are against gay marriage, but are totally liberal on divorce.
DAMN! There goes the neighborhood.
I think Anglicans that believe the Holy Scripture and also some reality of the Ecumenical Creeds, need to realize that a true “Catholic” faith has never been a uniformity in the whole visible church, as it has been and is a unity in “spirit and truth”. The early church was a church of Jews and Gentiles, Judaizers and Jewish diaspora, Gentile God-Fearers, etc. The point too of the Church is as St. Paul seeks to inform, is a Church that is a spiritual reality: “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Eph. 4: 3) And verses 4-6, etc. Here there is both Law & Gospel, but the latter supersedes the former, certainly in a NT Church. I am one of those so-called (conservative) Evangelical & Reformed Anglicans, but with something of an eclectic High Church sense. WE are something of the Visible Body of Christ, let us live in that life and reality, with faith, hope and love!