Iraqi cathedral children survive double bomb blasts; Anglicans in Zimbabwe threatened with arrest, barred from shrine once again; US National Cathedral names new dean; Hong Kong churches protest Beijing-sponsored school curriculum
Iraqi cathedral children survive double bomb blasts
ACNS – Canon Andrew White, the vicar of the only Anglican church in Baghdad, said it was “a major miracle” that a bus load of children returning from their First Communion were not killed in a double bomb attack.
Canon White had first alerted his supporters across the Anglican Communion in Facebook and Twitter posts at around 1pm BST. At that time, he believed that some of the children had been killed.
His post read, “The bus bringing the children back to St George’s from their First Communion class has been blown up. At the moment all we know is that there are dead and injured amongst the children. Please pray for them.”
This prompted shocked comments and retweets from people around the world.
One news report said the bomb blasts had killed 21 people. A later update by Canon White revealed that thankfully none of the children, nor their teachers, had been killed in the attack.
“We are used to bad days, but today has been in a different league,” he wrote .
“Central to our work and ministry here are our children. One of the biggest services of the year is when some of our children have their First Communion. This service takes place at the end of August. The children prepare everyday with about two hours of sessions. They all come to church in our bus and are then taken home.
“As they were on their way home today, they were caught up in a major bomb. The bus was not too badly damaged and it continued its journey. All of the children started singing the Lord’s Prayer. As they were in the midst of their prayer a huge bomb exploded. All the glass of the windows shattered, people fell to the floor injured and one of the teachers was in a very bad way. They were all taken to hospital, but were all discharged as none of them had life threatening illnesses. In a normal country there is no way that some of the teachers would have been discharged. One person was hardly breathing and in profound shock. She was brought to the church and I looked after her until she was more stable. Only then could I leave to visit all the children.
“It was wonderful seeing all the children, despite their injuries they were all smiling. Their parents however were not, some were in floods of tears on learning what happened. The fact is that today was miraculous. When you see the state of the bus it is simply a major miracle that nobody died or was more seriously injured. The children knew quite clearly why, they just kept telling me that they were alright because they were praying and G-d was with them. And He was.
“Many tears were shed and there are huge things still to do as well as people who still need treatment. Please pray for us as we try and recover from another trauma.”
Since becoming Anglican Chaplain in Iraq in 2005, the Reverend Canon Andrew White has been dubbed the “Vicar of Baghdad” by the media. He is also President of the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East. He was previously Director of International Ministry at the International Centre for Reconciliation at Coventry Cathedral, England.
His ministry in Iraq is part of the work of The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & The Middle East, one of the Provinces of the Anglican Communion.
Anglicans in Zimbabwe threatened with arrest, barred from shrine once again
ACNS – Anglicans in Zimbabwe’s Diocese of Masvingo may once again face arrest for trying to commemorate the life and ministry of Arthur Shearly Cripps and for carrying out their ministry.
As ACNS reported last year, clergy and pilgrims were prevented from holding their celebrations at the Shearly Cripps Shrine by excommunicated bishop Dr Norbert Kunonga supported by police. Dr Kunonga claimed to be in charge of the shrine and 78 Anglican churches in Masvingo Diocese.
The Bishop of Masvingo, the Rt Revd Godfrey Tawonezwi has revealed that this year they have had to move the event to the beginning of August for the same reasons, but that the police have labelled the planned gathering “illegal”. No-one knows whether meeting at the shrine will end in arrests.
“This year we had arranged to hold the celebrations from 27 to 29 July,” the bishop wrote to supporters, “but Kunonga and the police have once again stopped us from doing so. Last week Kunonga put up posters in Chivhu Town advertising that he (as the Archbishop of the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe2) will be going to Shearly Cripps Shrine the same weekend we had planned to be at the shrine. The police wrote us a letter saying that all Anglican Church property is under the custodianship of Kunonga.
“In our response to this correspondence from the police, we informed them that the court cases they cited have a direct reference to the property wrangle in the Diocese of Harare and not Masvingo. We also pointed out to them that the order by the Supreme Court in case number SC 180/08 as read with High Court case number 4327/08 does not cover property in the Diocese of Masvingo because rightly so such property falls under the Diocese of Masvingo.
“We have since changed our dates for Shearly Cripps celebrations to August 3 to 5.
We do not know what will happen because the Police are insisting that our gathering to celebrate Shearly Cripps day is illegal. We will wait and see what will take place this coming week-end.”
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/news.cfm/2012/7/30/ACNS5161
For anyone wanting to show their support for persecuted Anglicans in Zimbabwe, please visit the I’m Standing With Zimbabwe Anglicans Facebook page here http://on.fb.me/jaMC5W
US National Cathedral names new dean
The Washington National Cathedral has named the Rev. Canon Gary R. Hall, Ph. D. as its tenth dean succeeding the Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd, III.
Hall is rector of Christ Church, Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a position he has held since January 2010. He was previously Dean and President of Seabury Western Seminary, rector of the Church of the Redeemer in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Senior Associate at All Saints Church, Pasadena, California, Vicar of St. Aidan’s Church in Malibu, California, and Associate Rector and Chaplain at Christ Church Cranbrook and the Cranbrook Schools.
Dr. Hall has also taught at Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, the Episcopal Theological School at Claremont, UCLA, and Oakwood School. In the 1990s he served the Diocese of Los Angeles as the Clergy Sexual Misconduct Officer.
A native Californian, Hall received his A.B. at the University of California, Berkeley. He earned his M.Div. with distinction at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in English at UCLA. He is an honorary canon of the Cathedral Center of St. Paul in Los Angeles. He and his wife Kathy have one son, Oliver, a musician and writer living in Los Angeles.
Hong Kong churches protest Beijing-sponsored school curriculum
ENI – Some 90,000 Hong Kong people took to the streets on 29 July to urge the government to withdraw a new education curriculum said to be biased in favor of China’s Communist party. About 150 Christian schools said they would refuse to use the course in the new school year.
http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=5832