Appointment of women bishop in Kenya challenged

Jan 30, 2021 by Jill

by George Conger, Anglican Ink:

The appointment of the Rev. Canon Emily Onyango as assistant Bishop of Bondo in the Anglican Church of Kenya was unlawful and improper, lay members of the diocesan synod have claimed in a 19 January 2021 petition filed with the primate, the Most Rev. Jackson Ole Sapit.

Six lay members of synod have alleged the appointment of Canon Onyango was unlawfully engineered by their bishop, the Rt. Rev. David Kobia in violation of diocesan and provincial canons. They have asked Archbishop Ole Sapit to investigate the circumstances of her appointment and election and to withhold his consent. The appointment of Canon Oyango also threatens to unravel the GAFCON coalition, as the member churches have agreed not to consecrate women bishops at this time.

On 12 January 2021, the Bondo synod affirmed the appointment of Dr. Onyango as assistant bishop. A senior lecturer and dean of students at St. Paul’s University in Limuru, Dr. Onyango earned a PhD from the University of Wollongong in New South Wales and was one of the first women ordained to the priesthood in Kenya in 1984.

If her appointment is affirmed, she would become the fourth African female bishop, following the Rt. Rev. Ellinah Wamukoya of Swaziland (who died last week of COVID -19), the Rt. Rev. Margaret Vertue of False Bay and the Rt. Rev. Elizabeth Awut Ngor assistant bishop of Rumbek.

Read here

Watch: Further discussion between Kevin Kallsen and George Conger on Anglican Unscripted (scroll in to 32.50 minutes)

Ruckus over Kenyan appointment of woman bishop by David Virtue, Virtueonline

Please right-click links to open in a new window.