Back
05/17/2008
Diocese of Atlanta hears from African bishop, revises funding canon
by Nan Ross
The Diocese of Atlanta looked within and also beyond itself at its 99th Annual Council Nov. 11-12 at Holy Innocents’ Church and School in Atlanta, approving revisions to a canon that guides parish funding of the mission and ministries of the bishop and diocese and giving a platform to an African bishop who called the Anglican Communion to unity in God.
In a speech the following day, Mhogolo said that as he struggles to understand and participate on Anglican issues, he often turns to Psalm 33:13-15, which reminds him that God “looks down from heaven and fashions the hearts of all the people and observes all their deeds.” “God,” Mhogolo said, “sees those who are so- called his people, the people of faith, fighting each other today in his name…killing each other in his name, Christ’s name, in Allah’s name, everybody claiming God to be on his/her side.
“God sees the Anglican Communion spending so much of its small energies either defending or attacking sex,” he said. The communion has “managed to dodge big issues of human life” while people are dying of AIDS, malaria and poverty, even from the lack of clean drinking water.
 | The Rt. Rev. Mdimi Mhogolo of the Diocese of Central Tanganyika in Tanzania, Africa, addressed more than 600 delegates and guests on two occasions, first preaching at the convention Eucharist. “The church has a message of peace for the world, he said. "Jesus calls his disciples to go out into the world and build bridges and destroy the dividing walls that exist between people and nations." Download Bishop Mhogolo's sermon |
In a speech the following day, Mhogolo said that as he struggles to understand and participate on Anglican issues, he often turns to Psalm 33:13-15, which reminds him that God “looks down from heaven and fashions the hearts of all the people and observes all their deeds.” “God,” Mhogolo said, “sees those who are so- called his people, the people of faith, fighting each other today in his name…killing each other in his name, Christ’s name, in Allah’s name, everybody claiming God to be on his/her side.
“God sees the Anglican Communion spending so much of its small energies either defending or attacking sex,” he said. The communion has “managed to dodge big issues of human life” while people are dying of AIDS, malaria and poverty, even from the lack of clean drinking water.
“These issues are not the big issues of the Anglican Communion,” Mhogolo said. “Sex continues to preoccupy the minds of many Anglicans, and who cares about the suffering world? God cares and continues to look down from the heavens in silence.”
