Thinking Anglicans

Statement on Congo violence

Updated Friday morning

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of the Anglican Province of Congo and the Bishop of Winchester today voiced their concerns over the continuing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Read the Statement on DRC violence from Archbishop of Canterbury, Archbishop of Congo and Bishop of Winchester.

Update

The Bishop of Winchester spoke in the House of Lords on this subject. You can read what he said here.

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Cynthia Gilliatt
Cynthia Gilliatt
14 years ago

Fine. Fine. Where is the statement on Uganda’s proposed antu-gay leguslation? Huh? Where?

Chris Smith
Chris Smith
14 years ago

This is shameful behavior for certain. No statement from either the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church USA means we are in deep trouble. The lack of concern and the fact that neither is addressing the issue on the moral and ethical grounds is incomprehensible to me. Maybe it’s time for the people in the pews to ACT UP publicly when these two prelates speak in a Cathedral. Silence is not acceptable behavior for sure.

Pluralist
14 years ago

I bet that was easy.

MarkBrunson
14 years ago

Thank God enough straights and homophobes are involved in the violence in the Congo, or Rowan would ignore that, too!

peterpi
peterpi
14 years ago

Cynthia, my thoughts exactly. He’s not afraid to take a stand on the Congo. Why is he afraid to take a stand on Uganda?
I did get an e-mail from the PB’s office confirming they have received my e-mail asking her to take a stand on Uganda. I wonder whether I’ll get any other response?

Father Ron Smith
14 years ago

Surely anyone with an eye to the current issues can see that the Congo situation is rather different from that of the LGBT criminalisation legislation threat in Uganda. The Congo situation is one concerning not just human rights of a sector of the population (LGBTs), but the continuing programme of oppression being conducted against the majority of underclass Congolese citizens – lasting over a hundred years. The whole Christian world has been in concert in opposing the Congolese pogrom. The Ugandan situation is somewhat different from what is going on in the Congo, and the world has only just been… Read more »

Cynthia Gilliatt
Cynthia Gilliatt
14 years ago

“I did get an e-mail from the PB’s office confirming they have received my e-mail asking her to take a stand on Uganda. I wonder whether I’ll get any other response?”

That’s all I ever got, and not a peep from Lambeth.

Yes, the Congo is a horror. I’m glad they have spoken. How long will it be before they speak on Uganda? Not holding my breath on that one.

Jay Vos
Jay Vos
14 years ago

Cynthia and peterpi, I guess we received the same form reply/acknowledgment of receipt to our letters. This is what I received after writing to deplore the PB’s silence on Uganda. No mention of a follow-up.

“Dear Mr. Vos,

Thank you for your recent email to Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. This is to confirm that it has been received by our office.

Once again, thank you for writing.

Sincerely,

Miguel Angel Escobar”

karen macqueen+
karen macqueen+
14 years ago

“Maybe it’s time for the people in the pews to ACT UP publicly when these two prelates speak in a Cathedral. Silence is not acceptable behavior for sure.” Posted by: Chris Smith on Friday, 20 November 2009 at 3:07am GMT Here! Here! As a veterana of the ACT UP struggles of the 1980’s to secure government assistance against the spread of HIV and AIDS, I could not agree more. When the ABC, the Archbishop of York, and the Primate of TEC speak in a public venue they should face as many demonstrators as we can assemble, demanding that they take… Read more »

Leonardo Ricardo
Leonardo Ricardo
14 years ago

¨Thank you for your recent email to Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. This is to confirm that it has been received by our office. Once again, thank you for writing. Sincerely, Miguel Angel Escobar” Dear Manuel, Yours was a massive mailing, we all got one…you apparently figured that while we were ¨fasting¨ and hanging around ¨crucified places¨ there was hardly any urgency regarding the pending anti-human legistative ¨arranging¨ (for deadly persecution of Anglicans/others) in Uganda…wrong as wrong can be. Silence does equal death, shame on you. Don´t get me started on the Archbishop of York, Uganda born, who escaped Idi Amins… Read more »

JCF
JCF
14 years ago

“Dear Manuel, Yours was a massive mailing”

Massive mailing . . . and massive FAIL-ing.

It’s like I can literally FEEL ++KJS’s moral capital draining away…

🙁

Peter of Westminster
Peter of Westminster
14 years ago

I agree with Chris and Karen that ACT UP tactics would be those most likely to draw much needed public attention to the issue of both the evil legislation in Uganda and homophobia in the region. I’m wondering, though, if anyone can tell me what the internal political situation is in Uganda right now concerning this legislation. Specifically, I’m wondering if ++KJS were to make strong public statements concerning it, whether those statements might actually drive the passage of the proposed law, being construed by its proponents as more interference from the decadent West that must be resisted by all… Read more »

cilla
cilla
14 years ago

Both The Episcopal House of Deputies and The Presiding Bishop ++KJS) have spoken out strongly against the proposed legislation. The Anglican Church of Canada has, also. What puzzles me is why the Archbishop of Canterbury very quickly spoke out about the potential difficulties within the Anglican Communion regarding the recent election of a lesbian bishop in Los Angeles. He found his voice remarkably quickly but is profoundly and deafening silent on proposed legal genocide in Uganda.

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