The leadership of the Anglican Church of Botswana will spend the first months of the New Year at the High Court in Lobatse following the withdrawal of licenses for seven pastors late last year whom the church accused of misconduct.
The pastors are from the congregations of Lobatse, Molepolole, Mahalapye, Broadhurst, Mogoditshane, Selebi-Phikwe and Tonota. They are Father Patrick Ncaagae, Father Essau Mosima, Father Paul Beleme, Father Botshabelo Beleme, Father Mooketsi Mokgatle, Father Aubrey Molatlhwe, and Father Moreri Leteemane.
The pastors dragged the Church and Bishop Trevor Mwamba of the Diocese of Botswana to the High Court in Lobatse on December 21 last year challenging their suspension.
I wish that Westerners who appeal to the Global South as the source of all Christian sweetness and light would realize that they have most of the same conflicts as anywhere else. I keep up with the religion news on [url=http://www.google.com/news?q=Anglican+church&ie=UTF-8]Google[/url] and at [url=http://allafrica.com/religion/]AllAfrica.com[/url].
I hadn’t seen this story from Botswana before, but here are some other interesting examples from just the last, fairly typical, week:
The Province of Central Africa/Diocese of Harare situation continues–[url=http://www.google.com/news?ncl=1126049923&hl=en]LINK[/url]
A diocese in Nigeria is in chaos–[url=http://allafrica.com/stories/200801080224.html]LINK[/url]
Accusations of corruption against a bishop in the Province of West Africa–[url=http://allafrica.com/stories/200801070817.html]LINK[/url]
Armed police called to sort out factions in Church of Uganda parish–[url=http://allafrica.com/stories/200801040035.html]LINK[/url]
Public squabble among Ugandan bishops over controversial marriage–[url=http://allafrica.com/stories/200801020545.html]LINK[/url]
And so it goes…
Dale