South Africa: Church Elects Woman Bishop(ess)
October 5, 2012 18 Comments
Right here in Cape Town:
Bishop-elect Margaret VertueCape Town — A South African woman has been elected as the second female Anglican bishop in Africa.
Canon Margaret Vertue, the senior priest in a diocese which includes most of the poorer suburbs of greater Cape Town, was elected bishop of the Diocese of False Bay at an elective assembly on Wednesday.
In July, a woman was elected to be Africa’s first woman bishop in the deeply traditional society of Swaziland.
Canon Vertue was one of the two first woman priests to be ordained in Cape Town by Archbishop Desmond Tutu 20 years ago.
She and theRevd Ellinah Ntombi Wamukoya, bishop-elect of Swaziland, are scheduled to be consecrated as bishops together by Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, head of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, in the coming months.
And there is still no need of an Ordinariate?
About Fr Stephen Smuts
Ugh! (1 Tim. 2: 9-15) … yeah, that old “stinging” Bible Revelation again!
SA has fallen!
The World & Age is fallen!
The other Anglican Church, a thriving denomination called the Church of England in South Africa ( CESA)..is low Church and evangelical..and has no women in ordained in ministry. Interestingly CESA is not schismatic..in that its first churches were Church of England congregations that refused to join the Anglican Church ( then CPSA) in 1870.The Anglican communion recognises CESA orders.
Maybe the Anglican people who disagree with this should send a request for an Ordinariate. The stench of Satan is permeating the Swaziland.
Personally I am delighted. God sees us all the same in Christ, neither male nor female. I am glad some in the Church are finally doing the same.
How sweet of you that you are delighted; you are obviously more learned in the matter than the apostles and the Church Fathers.
Oh, but Dr. Tighe, you’re being uncharitable and politically incorrect! Don’t you know that there’s no difference between men and women anymore, even if ‘God made them, man and woman’ at the beginning of Scripture?
As ‘one in Christ’, not the same. Save us from ill education.
Catholic Leftwinger (who might consider changing your somewhat misleading name) as well as the others who responded in sarcasm and condescending commentary on my very sincere remark, I have studied theology, both as an evangelical and then Roman Catholic, for 7 years, was in ministry for 12, and while you certainly may disagree with my conclusions do not assume my stupidity. Insults do not help your cause. God bless.
@anglicanboyrichard: Sincere remarks simply do not change God’s Word and Revelation! Right is right, and wrong is wrong! And before God in salvation men and women are equal, but in this fallen world, both have different roles in family, culture and church! (1 Cor. 11: 3, etc.) St. Paul called these “traditions” (Paradosis, Gk.), as biblical instructions. In 2 Thess. 2:15, the Apostle Paul’s use of the word constitutes a denial that what he preached originated with himself, and in reality was a claim for its Divine authority.
Irishanglican–am I confused or does not Anglicanism use a three legged stool, that of Sacred Scripture, tradition,and reason? Rome trades the third point in for Magisterium and that is where we no longer are allowed to read the Scriptures for ourselves or to disagree on its application. Been there, done that, and not doing it again.
I thought Anglicans were past that mentality. Meaning–I respect your views, but know that I am not attempting to twist Scripture here. Nor are you. We simply both see a different side to it however in this case.
Part of reading and interpreting the Bible in its context is to determine first who the audience was, which in this case was the early Church, and then to determine if we apply the exact words (such as women not being allowed to speak or have leadership in the Christian community) or rather the principles behind them. I would submit that those principles are more to the point here and not the idea of an all-male priesthood. On that we can certainly disagree without insinuations of your side or mine being less “Christian” somehow.
St Mary Magdalene is often called “apostle to the apostles.” She preached to them the Resurrection before they even believed it on the first Christian Easter. Many women are mentioned as leaders even in St Paul’s letters (Priscilla just for one) and it was the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well in St John’s Gospel who preached to her town, men included, and many of them were converted while the Apostles sat dumbfounded. Jesus did not stop her in the least.
In short I would just say we are allowed to see it differently without the need to condemn those who disagree. And I hope we can agree on that at least.
@ABR … Indeed both Holy Scripture and tradition, can and should be approached with a certain amount of logic per se, but proper exegesis, should always include the gramatical historical and certain epistemology. And with this, the position of women, while certainly allowing them some activlty in the church for service, does not allow them the place of the presbyter! (1 Tim. 2-3 ; also chapter 5) And again this is both the revelation of the Holy Scripture, and proper tradition, (1 Cor. 11:2).
In reality, this is.. perhaps of course with proper Christian sexual ethics, one of the reasons many Anglicans have chosen to look to, and for some finally go to Rome. Note, I am myself however, a classic Evangelical (Reformed) Anglican (Thirty Nine Articles), and a conservative. Both theologically and politically.
Finally, I would reject your mostly contextual and social argument, taken from the negative idea of the NT 1st. Century itself! The NT, as the whole of the Biblical Revelation, is a Judeo-Christian context, and most certainly theologically given in the light of the revelation of the Doctrine of God Himself, with finally God Incarnate, in the history of Mary as the Theotokos, and the revelation of the NT itself. And here is also the Church given, but itself always subject to the biblical historical reality itself! (1 Tim. 3:15-16)
“was elected bishop of the Diocese of False Bay “. False Bay. You couldn’t make it up!
Yet Another Reason for Anglicanorum Coetibus
May 11, 20122 Comments
See… this is why we need Anglicanorum Coetibus:
But Cape Town also also has www.http://www.paraclete.org.za/ and http://www.anglicanlife.org/
True, but then again one must add that it is both a shame and disgrace that there is no Ordinariate option available for Anglican faithful in Southern Africa, and that in the face of such intolerable innovations.
Who exactly is stopping who? Can’t like-minded people band together and petition?
Hasn’t your bishop said “No thanks!” to Anglicanorum coetibus? Are there any other groups besides the old TAC that were even remotely interested?