Albert CF Vun in the bad book of Anglican Communion

2012 – The Anglican Year in Review: The Church of England Newspaper, January 6, 2013 pp 6-7. January 4, 2013

http://geoconger.wordpress.com/page/2/ 

 Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church News, Church of England Newspaper.

comments closed After a decade of being overshadowed by the unfolding events in the Episcopal Church of the United States of America, the Church of England returned to the center of the Anglican news world. While the communion’s 38 provinces dealt with issues of local importance, the issues underlying Archbishop Rowan Williams’ resignation, the coalition government’s push for same-sex marriage, the General Synod vote on women bishops, the collapse of the Anglican Covenant, and the Chichester abuse report were played out across the Anglican Communion in 2012.
As important as these issues appeared as they were debated and discussed, the underlying questions about the nature of the Church and the nature of mankind, sounded by Dr. Rowan Williams, Pope Benedict XVI and leaders of the church in the developing word and within the Church of England, drove debate within the church in 2012.
However a few hardy Anglican perennials surfaced last year also. Episcopal corruption remained a significant concern for the Church of South India (CSI) and the Church of North India (CNI). Lay activists tell The Church of England Newspaper that only “8 or 9” of the CSI’s 21 current bishops were untainted by corruption charges.
The Bishop in Coimbatore was finally sacked for theft, two bishops were suspended for corruption, and a third fighting government charges of tax fraud died of cancer.  Government auditors also released a report that found the Church of South India Trust Association, the not-for-profit company that holds title to the church’s properties, was not in conformance with India’s charitable laws, and ordered the church to implement immediate reforms, or risk liquidation of the trust.
However, steps to address problem were begun by the church’s new moderator, Bishop Gnanasigamony Devakadasham, who appointed a new church legal adviser to clean house.

The CNI was also plagued by corruption scandals. The former Bishop of Pune was jailed and several other serving and retired Church of North India bishops accused of complicity in a scheme to sell churches to property developers and pocket the cash.
Episcopal corruption also dominated the proceedings of the House of Bishops of the Provinces of South East Asia and Southern Africa. The Bishop of Sabah was accused of financial misconduct.  While the results of the provincial audit have not been released calls for a criminal investigation have been made by diocesan leaders.

At the close of their February 2012 meeting, the Southern African bishops released a statement at saying they were placing the Diocese of Umzimvubu “under the care of a provincial administrative team.” Elected in 2003, Bishop Mlibo Ngewu   had been charged by his clergy with simony, nepotism, embezzlement, fraud, sexual harassment and bullying.  In August 2011 two-thirds of the diocesan clergy had written to the Archbishop of Cape Town requesting his intervention.

At their Fall Meeting, however, the bishops received a report on Bishop Johannes Seoka of Pretoria.  A provincial investigative commission had examined allegations of theft and bullying leveled against the bishop – who also chairs the South African Council of Churches – and found there was no truth in the allegations.
The long running dispute in Zimbabwe came to an end last year. The country’s Supreme Court dismissed the claims to ownership of the properties of the dioceses of Harare and Manicaland made by Dr. Nolbert Kunonga and his supporters. And, unlike past rulings, the security services did not defy the courts and allowed constables to evict Dr. Kunonga and his men – apparently ending the collusion between the secret police and the ex-bishop that had kept the country’s Anglicans in internal exile for almost five years.

[ Sabah Anglicans can learn from this ]

Is AVCF going to sue the Anglican newspaper for posible libel?