From the Lambeth Conference Canterbury: Wednesday, July 23rd

From www.forwardinfaith.com

Lambeth Conference - 5
Jul 23, 2008

Transforming Society: the Bishop and Social Justice

This was theme for today’s indaba groups.

Helen Wangusa, the Anglican Observer at the United Nations, met with the press to speak about the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). She said that the most important thing is that, with the goals, “all governments have a collective objective” that is “realistic, achieveable”.

The Church has ever fed the hungry and clothed the poor, she observed; now, organizations, governments and societies are engaging with us in that work.

“Water is the mother of all MDGs”, Ms. Wangusa declared. But next after that, in her opinion, the empowerment of women is central to the analysis and implementation of the MDGs.

Tomorrow’s march in London is a statement of our committment to keep our promises, and will ask governments to redouble their efforts to keep theirs. For while progress has been made, it has not been sufficient to meet the agreed targets in 2015.

In response to a question, Ms. Wangusa indicated that her office is concerned about the effect of climate change on small island states, which are sinking or losing population, and is looking at working with various governments to generate a resolution in the General Assembly.

Bp. David of Highfeld in South Africa spoke to the same issue, but with a more local reference-point.

He related the story of a young man who died some six months after being confirmed, holding his confirmation photo, for “he believed the enabled him” by his confirmation to be recognized “as a real person”.

The people Bp. David serves live on the edge, struggling to survive. Urban unemployment in his diocese is 45%; rural unemployment runs to 80%. The diocese has trained 1,100 people to serve as home care workers: the hospitals can’t cope with the number of persons with AIDS.

The MDG’s, Bp. David said, “have helped to focus the ministry of the church” as it says to government that people matter more than arms or bureaucracies, that “people matter most”.

Governments seem increasingly willing to work with faith-based communities, because they are established local institutions: “we have a place in every community where we meet with the people every week”. And through the MDGs, “the church has shown that it is willing to cooperate”.

The church has the capacity, government has the funds: together they can see that church facilities are used between Sundays to provide counselling, testing, care, and a safe place for people under threat.

As to tomorrow’s walk, Bp. David said “there’s a huge significance to symbolic acts” for anyone who sees it – a world leader, or a hungry person. It will show “we’re taking the MDGs seriously”. Asked about the results of the recent G-8 meeting, he said he was disappointed that certain commitments hadn’t been met, but believes that the major governments still intend to honor their promises.

Cheryl Herft, wife of the Bishop of Perth, reported that the spouses’ sessions continued to be “absolutely inspirational” and “diverse”. One speaker today, an ordained woman whose husband is now a Bishop in a province that does not ordain them, for instance, had spoken of her decision to return to Kenya to work in the slums.
The spouses, Mrs. Herft observed, are “at the point of being family”.

In order to protect those bishops who do not wish their presence here to be made public, Archbp. Aspinall announced, the leadership of the Conference had decided to each bishop attending an indaba group to indicate whether or not his or her name could be provided to the press. The list of those who agreed, together with the number of those who did not and the number of those who were absent will, he hopes, be available later today.

With respect to the invitation to the former (and now excommunicate) Bishop of West Buganda to address a self-select group, Archbp. Aspinall reported that the Bishop of Newark in the US and others had indeed invited him, but that at the request of the Conference leadership that invitation had been withdrawn. The group was listed in the program in error, and in fact the planned session did not take place.

A member of the press reported although that he had made a request through the press office last Sunday to interview a particular bishop, that bishop said in a chance encounter with the reporter earlier today that he’d heard nothing of the request. The reporter further noted that several other members of the press had indicated that they, too, had filed requests to which there had been no answer over a period of days. Noting that he himself had spent much of the morning trying to locate a particular bishop, Archbp. Aspinall accepted that the present system is not working, and undertook to come up with a one which would be effective.