The accidental Anglican
https://archives.anglican.ca/link/article42764
- Author
- Swift, Diana
- Material Type
- Journal Article
- Journal
- Anglican Journal
- Date
- 2012 February
- Author
- Swift, Diana
- Material Type
- Journal Article
- Journal
- Anglican Journal
- Date
- 2012 February
- Volume
- 138
- Issue
- 2
- Page
- 13
- Notes
- Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, Primate of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa visited Church House in Toronto in fall 2011. "Elegant, quiet-spoken and quick to laugh, the archbishop took some professional detours on his way to the primacy, to which he was elected in December 2007 at age 48, succeeding Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane. He is South Africa's youngest-ever primate. The tools he acquired during his earlier work in education and counselling stand him in good stead in his current role, he says. Understanding one's fellow humans is paramount, as is the ability to draw people out, to see beneath the facade and capitalize on group dynamics". "Though the era of heroic front-page church leaders is past, the church is still able to get into the bones and muscles and sinews of the new democracy and monitor where it is heading. 'There has been noticeable progress, yes, but there are still big lags', he says, pointing to education, health and gender-based violence. 'The church has to continue to be vocal. It we are all created in God's image, no one should be thus demeaned'." "For a South African primate, political involvement is perhaps a matter of course. 'But not in a partisan political role', he says". "As for the 85-million-member Anglican Communion, the archbishop is looking forward to the meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in New Zealand this fall. He will be bringing the issue of climate change and stewardship to the top of the agenda. As for the Anglican Covenant, which will also grace the council's agenda, he does not think it will be as divisive an issue as some think". "One interesting new development on the ecclesiastical landscape [in South Africa] is the coming together, with government help, of the many once-scattered African indigenous churches, which are Christian bodies that incorporate elements such as polygamy". "As deputy chair of the country's interfaith National Religious Leaders' Forum. Makgoba is active in an initiative called Walks of Witness. in which interreligious representatives visit sites to highlight specific social ills caused by big business exploitation or government neglect. 'Our current focus is water and sanitation and how these create more illness in a country that can ill afford it', he says". "At the very heart of the archbishops' mission is emulating the earthly life of the incarnate Christ, who was so touched by the poor and disadvantaged. 'We must take that vocation seriously', he says. 'The church cannot afford to be aloof or it risks being irrelevant'."
- Subjects
- Makgoba, Thabo (Thabo Cecil), 1960-
- Anglican Church of Southern Africa. Primate
- South Africa - Politics and government - 1994-
- Christianity and politics - South Africa
- Christianity and politics - Anglican Church of Southern Africa
- Anglican Consultative Council. Meeting (15th : 2012 : Auckland, New Zealand)
- Anglican Covenant - Anglican Communion
- African independent churches - South Africa
- Church and social problems - Anglican Church of Southern Africa
- Mission of the church - Anglican Church of Southern Africa