It is a fascinating story, among other reasons, because the revelation of what God has graciously done in Christ for the renewal of the whole creation comes to us through narratives in which the main actors are not the powerful living in palaces, but the humble living in the margins.”
The Christmas story and its fascinating paradox invite us to meditate about Christian life in today’s world, the message reflects.
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The South African Council of Churches (SACC) extends its warmest congratulations to Professor Tinyiko Maluleke on his appointment as the next Vice Chancellor of the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT).
Prof Maluleke has been involved with the SACC for many years, having served as a past President of the SACC in his capacity as a minister in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. “Professor Maluleke is a long-standing contributor to and supporter of the SACC,” Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana, General Secretary of the SACC.
As an academic, Maluleke’s research into higher education at secondary and tertiary levels contributed to the conversations around the decolonisation of education in South Africa. This we believe will have a bearing on his leadership of this important university for industrial development.
Adding his voice, newly elected SACC President, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba said, “Professor Maluleke’s plans of elevating the standing of the TUT to compete with the top universities in the world is a profound vision which we support, both in prayer and in hope that his work will enable the young people at the university to achieve their God-given potential – an element of that for which the SACC prays.”
Prof Maluleke is scheduled to assume office on 1 February 2022.
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Join the South African Council of Churches Women’s Forum today for a National Healing Service against GBVF. All people of faith; the clergy, men, women and youth are invited.
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
Code: 89971700705
Password: 866335
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At the core of the 50-year plan are aspirations such as a peaceful and secure, politically integrated and prosperous continent, among a list of seven.
It also has 20 goals, including healthy and well-nourished citizens, transformed economies and well-educated citizens, a skills revolution underpinned by science, technology and innovation in what the African Union calls the “Africa we want.”
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The Anglican Church of Southern Africa congratulates the Right Revd Dr Vicentia Refiloe Kgabe, formerly Rector of the College of the Transfiguration, who was consecrated and installed as Bishop of Lesotho in the Cathedral of St Mary and St James in Maseru on December 5.
Among the congregation was His Majesty King Letsie III, who brought a message to the service.
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A 2 December webinar, “Building trust: religious leader’s engagement in vaccine confidence,” highlighted the voices of global religious leaders who are listening with a keen ear in their communities – and leading by example.
Sister Agatha O. Chikelue, executive director of the Cardinal Onaiyekan Foundation for Peace, said that if we really want our neighbors to stay healthy, we should take the vaccine. “As people of faith, we believe in collective responsibility,” she said. “We believe that we are responsible for each other. We believe that we are each other’s keeper.”
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The World Council of Churches (WCC) is mourning the death of Ibraheem Garba, co-director of International Centre for Interfaith Peace and Harmony in Nigeria. He died in a car accident in Nigeria as he was travelling for work-related reasons between Kaduna and Abuja.
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The South African Council of Churches (SACC) represented by General Secretary, Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana, yesterday attended the hearings in KwaZulu Natal (KZN) hosted by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in reviewing the incidents of civil unrest in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and Gauteng earlier this year.
Bishop Malusi’s attendance was a demonstration of solidarity with the SAHRC in working to uncover the full impact of the unrest, on all the affected. The SACC in August expressed the hope that these hearings would leave no stone unturned in identifying the motivating lint that set fire to the ready context of poverty and want, and which resulted in millions of rands lost and businesses destroyed, with the loss of human life having been the ultimate price paid. The hearings are scheduled to allow for testimony from academics, journalists and the president of the South African shack dwellers’ movement, also known as Abahlali baseMjondolo. Today the National Commissioner of Police, General Sithole, was continuing with his testimony.
“Our presence here today is to support the work that began earlier this year”, said Bishop Mpumlwana. Together, the SACC through its Local Ecumenical Action Networks (LEANs), its provincial chapter – the KwaZulu-Natal Christian Council (KZNCC), and the active interfaith collaboration of the Hindu priests, the religious community has played its own role in active ministry on the ground in Phoenix. “We have worked with community leaders and law enforcement to bring healing and peace to the area. We have met with the bereaved families, and heard of their pain, and met with business owners who have lost their livelihoods. These hearings today serve to demonstrate that the countless injustices have not fallen on deaf ears, and this process seeks to acknowledge the pain, and make recommendations of how to remedy the situation, to allow us move past this point in our nation’s history,” said Bishop Mpumlwana.
The SACC will continue in its support of the SAHRC hearings.
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The Church of Scotland and the Scottish Episcopal Church, on 30 November, signed a “Saint Andrew Declaration,” in which they each formally recognised one another as part of the one Church of Jesus Christ and deepened their relationship.
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“Vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation…must be voluntary. Those who, however, for reasons of conscience, refuse vaccines produced with cell lines from aborted fetuses, must do their utmost to avoid…becoming vehicles for the transmission,” the South African Catholic Bishops’ Conference said in a statement.
“The question of the use of vaccines, in general, is often at the center of controversy in the forum of public opinion. In recent months, this Congregation has received several requests for guidance regarding the use of vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19, which, in the course of research and production, employed cell lines drawn from tissue obtained from two abortions that occurred in the last century. At the same time, diverse and sometimes conflicting pronouncements in the mass media by bishops, Catholic associations, and experts have raised questions about the morality of the use of these vaccines.”
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