The Primate of Uganda, Archbishop Henry Orombi has announced that he will step down from office at year’s end, retiring after nine years as Archbishop of Kampala and leader of the second largest province of the Anglican Communion.
In an address to a meeting of the Ugandan House of Bishops on 7 January 2012, Archbishop Orombi issued a call for the election of a new archbishop to be held at the June bishops’ meeting.
In a statement given to The Church of England Newspaper by the Church of Uganda, Archbishop Orombi said he was leaving office a year before his mandatory retirement at age 65 in order to focus on mission and evangelism.
This will be a major transition. ++Orombi will be a hard act to follow. He is unclonable. Here are a few initial reactions.
The first idea that sprang to my mind is how very hard it will be to find someone who can fill his big shoes (i.e., he is very tall and literally has very big feet). Not least among the many ways that he has exercized enormous influence for good both inside and outside Anglicanism is the incredible fact that ++Orombi was selected as the overall Chair of the massive 3rd global congress on world evangelization in the Lausanne-Manila tradition, i.e., the huge assembly held in Capetown last fall. That high honor illustrates the universal esteem in which he is held by orthodox Christians and especially evangelicals all over the world.
The second thought that came to me was, what will Alison Barfoot+ do now? She’s probably too young to retire herself, but she has not only served on the archbishop’s staff but lived (as a single woman) in his large household.
Third thought: Isn’t it refreshing how different things are in the Christian world than in the secular political arena? All over Africa, we see elderly dictators who refuse to relinquish power and have to be driven from office (Mubarak and Mugabe are just two of many). Thank God that great primates like ++Orombi (like ++Akinola or ++Nznimbi in recent years in Nigeria and Kenya) are so willing to step aside and pass the baton to others.
David Handy+
My church came under the Church of Uganda after we left TEC. ++Orombi has even visited my church with our then-bishop. (We’re now in ACNA.) Of course, I have a personal preference toward hoping that our former bishop is selected as the new AB but I won’t put him on the spot by naming him here.
Shortly after his election as archbishop I had a delightful chat with ++Henry whom I have known since we were chasing bison together here in Kansas back when he was Bishop of Nebbi a number of years before his call to Kampala.
This wonderful, profoundly humble and very rural man — who abandoned the formal “enthronement” ceremony — was wondering aloud how he and his wife would ever adapt to life in Kampala. Some years later he confessed he did not much care for it.
Personally I should like to see him elevated to the seat of Canterbury, but I suspect he would much prefer a return to Nebbi. Perhaps that would allow our beloved Alison to return to Christ Church, though her parents in Virginia are now of advanced years and she is their only child. God will decide.
I’ve had the pleasure of ++Orombi’s company on several occasions, once when I drove him to a private luncheon given for him by one of my fellow parishioners. He is the easiest man on earth to talk with. He listens, smiles, laughs, and always has something worthwhile to say. Sometimes he breaks out in spontaneous prayer. He is consumed with zeal for the Lord and a desire to bring the lost to Him. Count me as one Anglo-Catholic who is convinced that ++Orombi is truly a successor to the apostles. I know the Lord has much good work for him to do in his retirement from the role of primate.
How mightily the Lord has used this humble man.