EDNY & Carpenter’s Kids Continue To Forge Strong Ties With Tanzania
Miriam Plume receives the gift of a chicken.
|
The Rt. Rev. Mdimi Mhogolo. |
Children pause for a drink while they have their daily breakfast. |
 One of the Carpenter’s Kids. |
By Michael Griffin
Many parishes in the Episcopal Diocese of New York have linked with
parishes in Tanzania, through the Diocese of Central Tanganyika, with
each parish committing to help a minimum of 50 children for five years
at $50 per child per year. The money helps the children, who are among
2.5 million AIDS orphans in Tanzania, get uniforms, school supplies and
breakfast. The Cathedral of St John the Divine has linked with the Cathedral
of the Holy Spirit in Dodoma; St. John’s, Kingston with Nala; St.
Gregory’s,Woodstock with Chamwino; St. Paul’s, Pleasant Valley
with Chamwino-Dodoma; St. Matthew’s Bedford with Mundemu; St. Luke’s
in the Bronx with Muungano Mvumi and Nyuta (2 linkages); St. Luke’s
Katonah with Chibelela.
These new linkages were announced:
•St. Bartholomew’s, NYC, with Mvumi Makulu
•St. Mark’s, Mt. Kisco with Ikowa
•St. Paul, Spring Valley will be linked with Bahi parish.
•Grace, Hastings will be linked with Ihmwa.
•Christ the Redeemer, Pelham will be linked with Zejele.
Holy Communion, Mahopec, St. Mary’s, Scarborough and Heavenly Rest,
Manhattan have also committed and are awaiting their linkages. The parishes
are entering multi-year covenants with these linkages, thus assuring
a steady presence for many years.
According to the Carpenter’s Kids last quarterly report (July-September,
2006), over 300 children were brought in to Carpenter’s Kids during
that time.
While the recent activities surrounding the church have caused communications
between the ECUSA and the Anglican Church of Tanzania to be ‘severely-impaired’,
Bishop Catherine Roskam and Tanzanian Bishop Mdimi Mhogolo have been
very quick to reassure us that Carpenter’s Kids will still receive
their promised benefits.
Here is Bishop Mhogolo’s statement on that matter:
Dear friends in Christ Jesus
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus.
You might have read that the House of Bishops acting not on behalf of
the whole Church but on their own have issued another statement regarding
its relationship with ECUSA. Among other things, the statement shows
that the communionbetween the Anglican Church of Tanzania and the Episcopal
Church in the US is severely impaired and that no financial or human
personnel support from ECUSA will be received by the AnglicanChurch of
Tanzania. Put that way, the statement assumes that there is some communion
that still exist between the two bodies of the Church of Christ.
DCT [Diocese of Central Tanganyika] still remains in communion with ECUSA,
maintaining our mutual respect for our cultural traditions and values.
When one visits the other, he/she should not impose one’s cultural
understanding of Christianity on the other. There are so many Christian
things that we share together than the things that divide us & our
relationship with ECUSA institutionswill continue as usual; and if DCT
continues to work together with secular organizations and governments
such as CARE INTERNATIONAL, OXFAM, governments of UK, Germany, Australia,
and Japan in trying to realize the Millennium Development Goals, how
much more will we enjoy working with our brothers and sisters from the
US in doing together God’s mission to the
world?
We stand firm in our work for Christ with all those with good will in
the Episcopal
Church. Nobody has the right to tell us to do otherwise.
Peace and grace to you all
Mdimi
The Carpenter's Kids Project At St. Mark's,
Mount
By Livesey Pack, India Williams, Turner Williams and Harper Pack On the rainy and foggy afternoon of December 22, a group from
St. Mark’s, Mount Kisco drove down to Dobbs Ferry to have
Bishop Catherine Roskam bless the money the parish had raised for
the Carpenter’s |
