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By:
HARRISON MAINA | |||||||||
| Posted:
Jun,02-2016 13:27:28
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Anglican Church of Kenya Bishop in charge of Thika Diocese in central Kenya, Bishop Julius Wanyoike has indicated his willingness to appear before the Norfolk Superior court in Boston to testify in the ongoing dispute at the All Saints Community church in Quincy where a group of parishioners have sued their pastor, Rev. Canon Fredrick Thanji. At the same time, Rev. Paul Mwaniki of the St. James Anglican Community church in Attleboro near Boston has dismissed the email communication tabled in court by Bishop William Murdoch of the Anglican diocese of New England recognizing the Anglican diocese of North America which ADNE is part of, as the sole mechanism to oversee all Kenyan Community church in North America and Canada that wish to be affiliated with the Anglican church of Kenya.
Addressing the judge presiding the matter last Friday, Stephen MacLaughlin, the pastor's defense attorney, urged the court to delay the hearings for a reasonable period of time in order to allow Bishop Wanyoike to organize his travel arrangements so as to appear at the court testify. MacLaughlin said that the Bishop would like to respond to Bishop William Murdoch's earlier testimony regarding the alleged affiliation between the troubled All Saints Community church and the Anglican Church of Kenya. "I was informed that Bishop Wanyoike who was mentioned here on Tuesday called from Kenya last night and said he would like to fly here to give testimony regarding the affiliation of the All Saints Church and the Thika Diocese. There were some things said here by Bishop Murdoch regarding the affiliation issue and he would like to come and clarify. He is looking for the quickest, affordable air ticket to come within the next two weeks if the court allows it," he told Judge Jeferry Locke. The judge did not respond to the request even after an objection was registered by attorney Corina Hale for the opposing group, indicating that she did not see the relevance of Bishop Wanyoike's testimony to the case that would warrant delaying the proceedings. "You don't have to address that now," Judge Locke told attorney Hale when she rose to object as Maclaughlin injected the request towards the end of his direct questioning of Richard Richu, a defense witness testifying right before the close of the day. During the second day of the hearings last week, Bishop Murdoch, head of the Anglican Diocese of New England that is responsible to oversee all Kenyan Community churches in USA and Canada that are affiliated with the main Anglican church of Kenya, told the court that Rev. Thanji's license to minister and Anglican Church of Kenya affiliated congregation had been terminated in 2011 following his own letter to withdraw. Bishop Murdoch further added that he had no control of the alleged side partnership carved out between Rev. Thanji and Bishop Wanyoike who had signed a partnership deed with the All Saints church that was tabled in court last Wednesday. The partnership was entered into last year when Bishop Wanyoike visited several area Kenyan Anglican community churches where he performed ecclesiastical ceremonies that only a bishop is allowed to perform. According to witnesses who testified last week, Bishop Wanyoike was present at the All Saints Community church on Sunday October 31 when a Special General Meeting had been called on to try to resolve the simmering dispute regarding the alleged amended church Constitution. An uproar had erupted in the courtroom when George Gichimu, the current church Secretary initially denied knowledge of the presence of Bishop Wanyoike at the church on the material day, forcing the court's security to quiet down enraged Kenyans objecting Gichimu's contention. However, testifying on Wednesday, George Kamau told the court that Bishop Wanyoike was present in the church but did not attend the SGM that was taking place in the church basement. He however had sent about 6 other pastors who were accompanying him on the US tour to attend the meeting downstairs. "The Bishop was upstairs in the main church, but a group of pastors who had come with him attended the meeting," Kamau said, adding that the Bishop did not help or attempt to help resolve the dispute going on. When he testified, Bishop Murdoch said that there are only two Kenyan churches in the New England region that are in compliance with the Anglican Diocese of New England and Anglican Church of Kenya requirement that they use the standard Church constitution offered to their pastors in a formatted template. He said that the pastors who objected to using that template and rather chose to withdraw their membership had their licenses revoked. Among those who objected was Rev. Thanji, Rev. Paul Mwaniki of the St. James Anglican Community church in Attleboro. "Did you offer the Constitution template to Rev. Thanji," Murdoch was asked by attorney Corina Hale for the plaintiffs on direct testimony. "Yes," Murdoch replied. "What did he say?" "He said no thank you", the bishop testified. Murdoch tabled an email communication from the leader of the Anglican church of Kenya, Archbishop Eliud Wabukala that confirmed the ACK's recognition of the Anglican Diocese of North America (ADNA) as the sole entity by which Kenyan community churches in USA that with to affiliate with ACK should conform to. Murdoch's ADNE is part of the larger ADNA.
In addition, bishop Murdoch to the court that there are a now about 33 churches across the USA that are part of the Anglican Diocese of North America, and a multitude of many other variations of churches that call themselves Anglican churches but are not really aligned to ADNA. He said that ADNA broke away from the American Episcopal Church in the mid 2000's when a group of bishops disagreed on the acceptance of the gay issue in the Episcopal Church that was part of the American Anglican church. The breakaway churches formed a movement that refered to as the Global Anglican Future(GAFCON)after a major 7 day conference of conservativeAnglican Bishops and leaders held in Jerusalem in 2008. According to Wikipedia, the seven-day conference took place from 22nd to 29th June 2008 to address the growing controversy of the divisions in theAnglican Communniondue to the gay issue, the rise ofSecularism,as well as concerns with HIV/AIDS and poverty. However, speaking to Ajabu Africa News at the court on Friday, Rev. Mwaniki dismissed the email communication that Murdoch provided in court, saying he does not believe it came from Archbishop Wabukala. He added that Bishop Murdoch should not be in a position to talk about Kenyan Anglican churches since the last time he was in Kenya was in 2009 and no longer represents ACK. "I made some calls and I can tell you for sure that that email did not come from the Archbishop. Bishop Murdoch also should not be talking about this issue as he no longer represents the ACK. In fact, he is not part of the Anglican community as he had come from the Episcopal Church," Mwaniki said. Rev. Mwaniki however did not comment on the specifics that led to his license revocation by Bishop Murdoch, butt promised to address the issue at a later date. The hearing continues Tuesday morning May 31st. | |||||||||
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Source:
AJABU AFRICA NEWS
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