This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20408199
The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Previous version
1
Next version
Version 0 | Version 1 |
---|---|
Ellinah Wamukoya becomes Africa's first Anglican woman bishop | Ellinah Wamukoya becomes Africa's first Anglican woman bishop |
(35 minutes later) | |
The Anglican Church of Southern Africa has consecrated its first woman bishop in Africa. | |
Ellinah Wamukoya, 61, will serve as the church's bishop in the small, conservative kingdom of Swaziland. | |
Her consecration comes as the Church of England is due to vote on whether to allow women to become bishops. | |
"We have taken this step, and we wish the Church of England 'God speed' as they deliberate this week," Cape Town's Anglican archbishop said. | |
The Most Revd Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town said in a statement: "The thunder is rumbling as I write: We have witnessed a great occasion, and now it does indeed seem that the heavens are about to fall upon us - the falling of rain, which this country and its people so desperately need. | The Most Revd Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town said in a statement: "The thunder is rumbling as I write: We have witnessed a great occasion, and now it does indeed seem that the heavens are about to fall upon us - the falling of rain, which this country and its people so desperately need. |
David Dinkebogile led Saturday's ceremony and stressed that the gathering was to consecrate a bishop "not a black woman, not an African, not a Swazi woman". | |
"She was to be pastor to all, to men and women, to black and white, to Swazis and all others in her diocese," he said. | |
Bishop Wamukoya is a former mayor of Swaziland's economic capital, Manzini, reports the AFP news agency. | |
"I am going to try to represent the mother attribute of God," she told the AP news agency. | |
"A mother is a caring person but at the same time, a mother can be firm in doing whatever she is doing," she said. |
Previous version
1
Next version