Bishop Trevor Rhodes laid to rest in a grand ceremony that Africa does so well.
ON Friday 22nd June, Archbishop John Hepworth, Father Michael Gill (Diocesan Administrator) and Father Stewart Peart (Secretary to Bishop Rhodes) reverently clothed Bishop Trevor in Episcopal raiment and white Mass vestments for the last time. His ring and cross rested on a green cushion with his mitre and a cross of red roses on the coffin.
Crowds arrived early at the church of Saint Therese on the outskirts of Pretoria, lent for the day by the Archbishop of Pretoria. There were snatches of music as his priests carried him into the church for two hours watch before the altar.
At 10.00am sharp the Requiem Mass began. There were five concelebrants, over 50 priests and a packed church with overflow on the lawns beside the church. Father Michael Gill, the Vicar General of Zimbabwe (Father Ncube Murinda), the Vicar General of Zimbabwe (Father Andre Mukayamba) and the Bishop of Port Elizabeth (Bishop Michael Mjekula) joined the Archbishop at the altar, in black vestments loaned by Opus Dei.
More than 800 people received Holy Communion.
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A PASTORAL LETTER READ FROM THE PULPITS OF ALL PARISHES AND MISSIONS
To the clergy and people of the Dioces of the Eastern States - Anglican Province of Christ the King.
Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ! I write to you today On the Unity of Christ's Church.
On June 9th, 2007, the Dioces of the Eastern States concluded its annual synod. It was a time of learning, prayer, fellowship and, most importantly, communion. Gathered before the Altar the faithful of the dioces united in the celebration of the Eucharist, joined at that moment with all in the Church that is holy, catholic and apostolic. The closing mass of this synod was an occassion of profound joy, yet tinged with the sorrow over the brokenness of our witness for Christ as traditional Anglicans.
Now, some thirty years after the Affirmation of Saint Louis and the consecration of four priests to the episcopacy by the Right Rev. Albert Chambers and other bishops, to continue the traditional Anglican expression in the United States, that witness, begun in great hope and fervent prayer, has grown increasingly fragmented. At present between 20 and 40 groups calling themselves "Anglican" stand divided; and the few major groups whose roots are grounded in the Denver Consecrations, despite sharing communion and in some case clergy, remain apart. One may claim any number of reasons for these unhappy divisions, but they are essentially man-made.
The unity of undivided humanity is the will of God. For this very reason the Father sent His son, so that by dying and rising for us He might bestow on us the Spirit of love. Indeed the night before his sacrifice on the Cross, Jesus Himself prayed to the Father for His disciples and for all those who believe in Him, that they might be one, as He and the Father are one, in living communion. This forms the basis of the duty and responsibility of those in the Body of Christ to foster reconciliation and unity.
Daily and during the course of our synod, faithful laity have repeatedly asked, "How is it possible to remain divided if we share the same apostolic origins, the same theology and the same Sacraments? What precisely is it that separates us?" In truth, such divisions contradict the will of Christ, presents a stumbling block to our work for Him in this world, and inflicts damage on our own witness as traditional Anglican Christians.
A community truly centered in Christ present in the Sacrement cannot be closed in upon itself, as though it were somehow self-sufficient; rather it must strive for harmony withother catholic communities. Cooperation among all Christians incarnates the blood that unites them, and reveals to the world the servanthood of Christ.
It is in the interest of unity of the Body of Christ that the Dioces of the Eastern States, Anglican Province of Christ the King, has renewed its commitment to ever-closer work with those who share the same origins, theology and Sacraments. As a first step I, your Diocesan Bishop, have pledged to increase our cooperation and fellowship with the Anglican Church in America, a respected body that has been in real and visible communion with the this dioces and with the province. Therefore, I now declare openly a state of genuine unity and full communion with these our brothers and sisters who hold fast to the same eternal truths as do we.
In the eyes of the world, cooperation among Christians is a form of common Christian witness and represents a means of evangelization commanded by Christ. Such Cooperation based on our common faith, our common origins and our common sacraments is nothing less than the manifestation of Christ Himself.
The peace of the Lord e always with you.
Faithfully,
Rt Reverend Rocco A Florenza
Dioces of Eastern United States.
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The Anglican Province of Christ the King
THE Primate of the TAC welcomes the overtures recently made by one of the dioceses of the Anglican Province of Christ the King, as a further deepening of the unity of the Continuum in the United States. This is not a sudden process, but one that has come from a deepening of prayer, friendship and conversations across the old divisions of the US Continuum.
Unity always comes at a price. Jesus prayed unconditionally for the unity of His followers on the night before He died, and the price was paid the next day on the Cross.
Coming at the close of the truly extraordinary and heroic ministry of Archbishop Morse, the timing of this announcement is both poignant and prophetic. Poignant, because he is the last of the first four bishops of the Continuum who chose to walk apart from one another to leave Episcopal office. Prophetic, because his successors are now making the moves, sacrificial of their own interests, that are now uniting this generation of those who stand apart from the Anglican churches that still abandon Gospel Truth and Catholic order.
May Archbishop Morse be richly blessed in this life and the next for his witness, and may the movement that he helped to found deepen its obedience to the Son of God who prayed for unity, and died.
