Category: Religion

{{Pope wrote an official communication to the President of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and to the Country’s Episcopal Conference Secretariat saying he would not travel to Uganda because of having a busy week.}}

Monsignor John Baptist Kauta, the secretary to the Uganda Episcopal Conference noted that Pope would be busy with the Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of the Bishops on the Pastoral under the theme ‘Challenges to the Family in the Context of Evangelization’ scheduled to be held in October in Rome.

In Uganda, the Episcopal Conference last week also postponed the national celebrations that are being organised to mark the Golden Jubilee of the 22 Uganda Martyrs since canonization.

The occasion had been originally scheduled to be held in October this year, a period that coincided with the Pope’s Synod.

{{A US based Kenyan pastor who was defrocked following allegations of sexual misconduct will not be reinstated, a Massachusetts court has ruled.}}

Judge Joseph M Walker III of Middlesex County Superior Court dismissed claims filed by Rev Dr Anthony Karimi Mumbui to counter a suit by the Trustees of the Presbytery of Northern New England (PNNE), seeking to enforce an earlier decision by a special tribunal.

Dr Mumbui had sought to be allowed to resume his duties as the pastor of the Kenyan Community Presbyterian Church in Lowell, Massachusetts.

But in a written ruling obtained by the media on Monday, Judge Walker said Mr Mumbui is unfit to continue leading the Kenyan congregation.

The court sitting in Boston ruled that evidence adduced indicated that the Presbytery of Northern New England acted within its mandate when it defrocked the pastor in 2010.

Dr Mumbui had moved to court to challenge a decision to strip him of his position as a cleric. He was removed from the pulpit by the PNNE trustees in November 2010 following an ecclesiastical trial which found him guilty of three counts of sexual abuse and sexual malfeasance.

The court heard that in September 2009, the Presbytery received complaints that the pastor had sexually abused a young female parishioner.

After investigations, formal charges were filed with the Permanent Judicial Commission (PJC) which held a trial and found the pastor guilty as charged. Stephen Quinlan, a renowned Massachusetts lawyer, was the lead prosecutor during the sexual abuse proceedings.

{{Church Disputes}}

PJC is a special court appointed by the 2.3 million-member Presbyterian church of USA secretariat to deal with disputes within the church.

Dr Mumbui dismissed the findings claiming that the Presbytery had no powers to strip him of his duties and immediately appealed the ruling at the Synod.

But in a twelve-page ruling whose copy was emailed to the Nation on Monday, the judge said the Second Amendment of the US constitution did not preclude the right of organisations to form tribunals for adjudicating disputes related to malfeasance.

“Mr Mumbui was a member of the New England Presbytery in 2010 and therefore subject to its jurisdiction, including its rules and regulations,” reads part of the verdict.

The latest development is a culmination of a seven-year old protracted tussle pitting pastor Mumbui, members of the Kenyan Community Presbyterian Church, which is popularly known as Ushindi Church, and the New England presbytery.

Judge Walker said the Massachusetts courts had long held that a church’s incorporation under the laws of the State does not exempt it from the jurisdiction of a hierarchical church.

“The United States Supreme Court recognises that the Presbyterian Church is hierarchical in structure, as contrasted with congregational churches,” he said.

As such, the judge added, the Presbytery’s decision to investigate a parishioner’s claim of sexual abuse and to subsequently hold a hearing to determine whether Mumbui violated church policy was within their authority under the Book of Order, which guides the operations of the Presbyterian Church.

‘Likewise, the Presbytery’s subsequent decision to sanction Mumbui was within its authority and this court will not interfere with that decision,” he said.

The ruling elicited mixed reactions from members of the Kenyan Community Presbyterian Church who have been following the developments keenly.

A Lowell-based Kenyan who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity said the allegations facing the pastor had divided the church into two camps. “It’s the biggest Kenyan Community Church in the region but its survival is threatened by the latest developments,” he said in a phone interview.

Presbytery of Northern New England is the local governing body of Presbyterian Church of the US with jurisdiction over congregations in Northern Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont.

Court documents show that prior to the fallout, the Presbytery of Northern New England had formally admitted Dr Mumbui as one of its members and allowed him to enjoy a number of benefits from the board of pensions.

He also received immigration sponsorship which earned him a US Permanent Residency permit, popularly known as a Green Card.

{Nation}

{South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar accused the government on Friday of ethnic cleansing and trying to sabotage peace talks, in his first face-to-face interview since fighting erupted late last year in Africa’s youngest nation.}

Dressed in dark green military fatigues and speaking to Reuters in his bush hideout, Machar branded President Salva Kiir a discredited leader who had lost the people’s trust and should resign.

Thousands have been killed and more than half a million have fled their homes since fighting erupted in the capital Juba in mid-December and spread quickly across the oil-producing nation, often following ethnic lines.

The two sides signed a ceasefire on January 23 in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, but each has accused the other of breaking it.

“Salva Kiir has committed atrocities in Juba, he has engaged in ethnic cleansing and he is still involved in the process,” Machar said.

His comments highlighted the gulf between the sides, who are meant to resume their troubled peace talks in Ethiopia next week. Regional and world powers are worried fighting could break out again and spill over into neighboring states.

South Sudan’s justice minister said this week that former vice president Machar and six of his closest allies should face treason charges, accusing him of trying to launch a coup.

“I am not aware of why we should face those charges for an alleged coup that never happened,” Machar said. “(It) is another attempt to stop peace talks.”

Machar has regularly denied starting the violence or trying to seize power, and has accused the president of taking advantage of an outburst of fighting between rival groups of soldiers to round up political rivals.

The United Nations and rights groups say both warring sides have committed atrocities, in a conflict that has taken the country to the brink of civil war. The government and rebels both accuse each other of ethnically motivated killings.

Human Rights Watch said earlier this month that government SPLA forces had targeted civilians from Machar’s Nuer group in Juba early on in the conflict, while rebel forces had butchered members of Kiir’s Dinka tribe in other towns.

GUNS AND LAUNDRY

In Machar’s bush camp, hidden in the thorny scrub of South Sudan’s vast Jonglei state which has untapped oil reserves, assault rifles stood propped up against a tree and laundry hung drying in the branches.

Nearby, Machar’s wife Angelina Teny, a former mining and energy minister in the united Sudan before the South seceded in 2011, was typing on a laptop in front of her tent.

The rebel leader said Kiir had lost the support of the country’s 11 million people. Asked what he wanted from the peace talks, Machar, who was sacked by Kiir in July, said he had no interest in being reinstated as vice president.

“It would be best for Kiir to resign. We are due for elections in 2015. Before the elections there would be an interim government,” Machar said, declining to say who might lead it.

Machar blamed the army for the ceasefire violations. The army was, he said, battling to extend its control outside the towns of Malakal and Bentiu, near the country’s main oil fields, and Bor, scene of some of the heaviest clashes.

Regional leaders said on Friday they aimed to deploy the first members of a team to monitor the shaky ceasefire at the weekend.

Even so, obstacles still lie in the way of the peace talks re-starting on time.

Four of the six senior political figures accused of treason alongside Machar are in detention in Juba. Machar pressed for their release after the government on Wednesday freed seven other detainees, but declined to say if he would call back his negotiators if the government refused.

“It will not be an inclusive peace process if they’re not there. A non-inclusive process would hurt the people of Sudan,” he said.

Machar said Kiir had only survived the uprising because Uganda’s military had intervened. Uganda has admitted its army provided air and ground support to Kiir’s troops, raising concerns among diplomats that the wider region could be sucked into the conflict.

“If it was not for the interference of the Ugandans, we would be in Juba now,” Machar said.

Asked if that meant he would be in power, he replied: “Not necessarily, but Kiir wouldn’t have been president.”

Reuters

{The head of the Anglican Church in Uganda has given a critical response to a letter from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York warning that gays and lesbians should not be victimised.
}

Their letter was sent to all presiding archbishops of the Anglican Communion.

It was also sent to the presidents of Uganda and Nigeria, which have recently introduced anti-gay legislation.

Archbishop Stanley Ntagali responded that “homosexual practice is incompatible with Scripture”.

He said he hoped the Church of England would “step back from the path” it had set itself on “so the Church of Uganda will be able to maintain communion with our own Mother Church”.

Archbishop Ntagali said the Church of Uganda had been encouraged that the country’s parliament had amended the Anti-Homosexuality Bill to remove the death penalty, and make other provisions of the bill less severe – all amendments which he said the Church had recommended..

“The Church is a safe place for individuals, who are confused about their sexuality or struggling with sexual brokenness, to seek help and healing,” said Archbishop Ntagali.

In their letter, Archbishops Justin Welby and John Sentamu said they were responding to questions asked about the Church of England’s attitude to laws penalising “people with same-sex attraction”.

Homosexuals were loved and valued by God and deserved the “best pastoral care and friendship”, they said.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has recently signed a law banning same-sex marriages and shows of same-sex public affection.

The Ugandan Church, along with others in Africa, has broken its ties with Anglicans in North America over the issue of gay ordinations and same-sex blessings.

Archbishop Ntagali makes it clear that he thinks Anglican leaders from the US and Canada should not be invited to the 2018 Lambeth Conference.

The Church of England does ordain gay clergy as long as they are celibate.

Archbishop Welby has said some gay couples have loving, stable and monogamous relationships of “stunning” quality.

But he says he still supports the Church of England’s opposition to active homosexuality.

Archbishop Welby, who is head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, is currently on a five-day African visit.

BBC