Thinking Anglicans

Bishop Anthony Poggo to be the next Secretary General of the Anglican Communion

The Anglican Communion Office has announced today that the Right Revd Anthony Poggo is to be the next Secretary General of the Anglican Communion.

Former child refugee named as next Secretary General of the Anglican Communion

A South Sudanese bishop who was forced with his family into exile before he was one year old, the Right Revd Anthony Poggo, has been named as the next Secretary General of the Anglican Communion. Bishop Anthony Poggo, the former Bishop of Kajo-Keji in the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, is currently the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Adviser on Anglican Communion Affairs.

Bishop Anthony was selected for his new role by a sub-committee of the Anglican Communion’s Standing Committee following a competitive recruitment process led by external consultants.

He will take up his new role in September, succeeding the Most Revd Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon, who steps down after next month’s Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops, which is being held in Canterbury, Kent, from 26 July to 8 August…

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Graham Kings
1 year ago

Excellent appointment of Bishop Anthony Poggo as the next Secretary General of the Anglican Communion.

Perceptive, wise, and diplomatic, he will bring vast experience of the Anglican Communion to his new role.

Unreliable Narrator
Unreliable Narrator
Reply to  Graham Kings
1 year ago

Leading inevitably to the question: what exactly does the Anglican Communion achieve, and how could we tell whether the appointee was or was not any good at this job there?

Philip Groves
Philip Groves
Reply to  Unreliable Narrator
1 year ago

Anglicans have done some great things over the years. Bp Anthony was at the heart of the relationship with Salisbury and working with the American Friends of the Episcopal Church of Sudan and South Sudan (AFRECS) they have been a slender light in the darkness in Sudan and South Sudan. Sudanese Episcopalians – especially the lost boys – have enlivened TEC. Several TEC churches have Sudanese lost boy (and the minority lost girl) communities. Sudanese Episcopalians revere the memory of the wonderful Marc Nikkel – a US Episcopalian who walked with the lost on their journey (Marc was supported by… Read more »

Unreliable Narrator
Unreliable Narrator
Reply to  Philip Groves
1 year ago

My question is about the Anglican Communion as an organisation, with its Office and its Secretary-General and its Standing Committee. Of course individual anglicans, lay and ordained, and their churches have done great things. What has been achieved by this named organisation and its bureaucratic structures?

Philip Groves
Philip Groves
Reply to  Unreliable Narrator
1 year ago

The ability to bring together Anglicans and enable meeting – Desmond Tutu said we meet. For myself Continuing Indaba sparked all kinds of things. The biggest was providing the process for the reconciliation of the Mbeere ethnic group in Kenya. We enabled South African and Ghanaian support for a peace that ended 50 years of clan feuding (with deaths and so on). It is just one of many examples.

Last edited 1 year ago by Philip Groves
Philip Groves
Philip Groves
Reply to  Unreliable Narrator
1 year ago

The ACO organises the networks – so this enables meeting between Maori, Indigenous South and North Americans and Australian indigenous peoples. This is very significant in their struggle for justice. Also there is the birth registration of people and the campaigns against Gender based violence where the ACO organises lobbying of the UN from across the communion. We took TEC women to Burundi and they found a voice there to return to the US to campaign for abused women because they learnt to do so from the Burundian women.

God 'elp us all
God 'elp us all
1 year ago

following a competitive recruitment process led by external consultants.

Somebody’s friend?

Wishing him well.

Richard
Richard
Reply to  God 'elp us all
1 year ago

Probably Nobody’s Friend.

Philip Groves
Philip Groves
1 year ago

Bishop Anthony is a very quiet presence. He has the ability to listen and to gather. He is a peace maker. He is very respected in South Sudan and in good relationships with some of the best bishops there – such as Archbishop Samuel Peni. Because of great people like Bp Anthony the Episcopal Church of South Sudan has maintained good relationships with TEC and with all African Provinces and especially with the Diocese of Salisbury.

Struggling Anglican
Struggling Anglican
Reply to  Philip Groves
1 year ago

Actually their stance on LGBT+ issues has caused a somewhat strained relationship with the Diocese of Salisbury

Last edited 1 year ago by Struggling Anglican
Philip Groves
Philip Groves
Reply to  Struggling Anglican
1 year ago

Yes, but both sides still saw benefit. Bp Nick was told on his arrival that the best thing about the Diocese of Salisbury was its link to Sudan. He did not believe it, but a year in he endorsed that.

Struggling Anglican
Struggling Anglican
Reply to  Philip Groves
1 year ago

I am not clear why anybody could say that the BEST thing about the Diocese of Salisbury is its link to Sudan.
‘Best’ is an absolute.
It may be a ‘good thing’ but hyperbole is not always helpful.

Kenyi
Kenyi
1 year ago

18-6-2022 The congratulatory message to the Right Reverend Anthony Poggo Secretary General of Anglican Communion of Canterbury On my own behalf as member of Kajo-keji community, I would like to congratulate Rt Rev. Anthony Poggo for his selection to the office of Secretary General for Anglican Communion in Canterbury. In cognizant of fact that his legacy prove beyond no doubt to ascend to this high position in England. The Bishop has shown to the people of Kajo-keji, South Sudan and Africa at large that there are potential leaders who can do better if given opportunity. After being nominated as Archbishop… Read more »

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