The Anglicans' second All-African Episcopal Conference, which ended Sunday in Entebbe, Uganda, was probably not an easy walk for Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury and honorary primate of more than 70 million Anglicans worldwide. For the growing, conservative Anglican community in Africa is striving away from the mother church.
The 21. The 21st century could become an African century of the Church, Williams said at the beginning of the week. A serious bow to the dynamics of religious growth in Africa. A guest gift to the Ugandan organizers, probably also. But certainly also a candy for the church-political critics, who were already ready for the curtain sermon for the liberal western sister churches.
Just at the beginning it was clearly spoken. The West lacks obedience to God's message, Bishop Ian Ernest of Mauritius, chairman of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa, told journalists' blocs; it is now up to Africans to set the record straight. The host archbishop, Henry Luke Orombi of Uganda, also made it clear that the division between South and West was in fact already there. Indeed, many of the 400 African bishops gathered in Entebbe have already broken off all contact with their counterparts in the United States or Canada. Western libertinism in matters of sexual morality, they insist, does not lead toward the gospel, but away from it. This is exactly why the cracks run along the priesthood of women, the ordination of homosexuals and other questions that an African bishop would probably not even think about.
Rift wars only a side ie
Primate Williams has taken such challenges, once again. But he also pointed out to the bishops the need to listen to others, to perceive the diversity of the flock entrusted to them and to take their concerns and needs seriously. The actual topic of the bishops' meeting – only the second of its kind after Lagos, Nigeria, in 2004 – was not the trench warfare that increasingly characterizes the public perception of the Anglican Church. These were the real, well-known problems of the continent: water and food shortages, underdevelopment, wars and conflicts, corruption and disease, HIV and AIDS.
Williams was able to form his own picture of the latter in Entebbe. Before the meeting began, he went to a special AIDS clinic to talk to sick children about their feelings – "one of the greatest treasures" he took away from the trip, the Archbishop of Canterbury said. Gideon Byamugisha, who was once the first clergyman to make his HIV infection public, urged bishops to take the lead in fighting AIDS, lest the virus celebrate its 50th birthday in 2031. Birthday could celebrate.
Voice of a self-confident continent
Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni addressed delegates with an appeal for greater religious tolerance – and beyond. In the history of his country, it had not taken ten years since missionization for Catholics and Protestants to fight each other. This was followed by a civil war between Muslims and Christians. "I don't know where they want to have heard that God is commanding them to kill each other," Museveni said.
On the shores of Lake Victoria, environmental expert Rose Mwebaza warned of the immediate consequences of human mismanagement: in 1973, Lake Chad still spanned several countries; now it is disappearing "right before our eyes". So are the forests and the snows of Kilimanjaro.
The appeals and the many encouraging examples of church involvement presented in Entebbe seem to have fallen on fertile ground: The five-page final document is the voice of a self-confident continent that wants to get down to business and do its homework, but also wants to be heard.