January 15, 2010
Presiding Bishop urges Liberian Anglicans to 'help each child in this nation'
Jefferts Schori's visit is first official African tour
By Lynette Wilson, January 04, 2010
"I was expecting a man," she said outside the cathedral following the Eucharist. "I was excited to see a woman."
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori preached and celebrated solemn high mass for more than 1,500 people on the second Sunday after Christmas at the cathedral in central Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, a nation of nearly 3.5 million people on Africa's west coast.
At the invitation of the Episcopal Church of Liberia, Jefferts Schori arrived there Jan. 2 for a weeklong stay. The visit marks the first time Jefferts Schori has been the official guest of an African church.
In his announcements during the Eucharist, Liberia Bishop Jonathan B. Hart extended an official welcome to Jefferts Schori and dozens of native-born Liberians, including the Rev. Theodora Brooks, vicar of St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Bronx, New York, who were visiting the country and the cathedral.
For the first time in 20 years, William Tobah, 37, a member of St. Mark's Cathedral in Minneapolis, made the trip home to Liberia.
"Me and a bunch of friends who left came back," he said, adding that when he heard news reports that Jefferts Schori would be celebrating at Trinity Cathedral, he decided to take the opportunity to see her.
He plans to see her again this week, he said. Tobah's relatives are longtime members of St. Thomas Episcopal Church on Camp Johnson Road, where the presiding bishop is scheduled to celebrate Mass on the Feast of the Epiphany Jan. 6. She is also expected to visit the Episcopal-affiliated Cuttington University, the all-girls Bromley Episcopal Mission School, meet with clergy and vestry members, U.S. Embassy and USAID officials and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the continent's first elected female head of state.
Jefferts Schori's sermon also touched on homecoming.
"This very nation of Liberia began in homecoming, in the restoration of peoples forcibly enslaved and exiled to North America and the Caribbean. Like ransomed Israel, the people who would form Liberia began to stream homeward nearly 200 years ago," the Presiding Bishop said. "Yet the work of homecoming is far from finished in this land. The homeward journeys of the 1800s also meant that others were pushed out of their homes. The years since have given rise to many struggles over whose home this nation would be. The violence of the last decades is stark reminder that the Prince of Peace still has much to do."
Jefferts Schori said she was surprised to find that Liberia's growth rate is the highest in the world and that its infant mortality rate trails only Afghanistan and Sierra Leone.
"When the average woman bears six or seven children in her lifetime, it's almost always a response to chaos and life's radical uncertainty. That chaos is evident in the fact that that average woman is likely to lose at least one of those six or seven children she bears," she said, adding that "the world into which Jesus was born was not all that different."
Jefferts Schori called those present to help the children of Liberia to be able to use the gifts that God has given them, noting that many others, including the Episcopal Church, have long been partners in caring for and teaching the children of Liberia.
"The holy child who is born among us yet again is an ever-present reminder of the unique value of each human life, for each human being offers us a glimpse of the divine, each one is an image of God," she said. "Joseph was willing to risk his life for the sake of a child he believes is not his own -- what about us?"
The Rev. Elizabeth Wilson-Hina, of Emmanuel Chapel in Marshall City, traveled to the cathedral to see the presiding bishop.
"She gave us the challenge to ascend the pulpit," she said. "I am proud of her because I am female, too."
The Rev. Shirley Diggs, of Christ Church in Crozierville, said that it was the first time in her 59 years as an Episcopalian that she met a presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.
"Spiritually it means a lot for me and the Church of Liberia," she said.
Diggs and Wilson-Hina are two of seven female priests resident in the Diocese of Liberia. Driggs said that the road to women's ordination was paved by Brooks, who in 1989 because the first woman ordained in the diocese. For Brooks, the Jan. 3 Eucharist was an exuberant homecoming.
"I'm speechless, I am just so humbled at the goodness of God," Brooks later said in a telephone interview. "When I think of how it all started in the beginning; we were so lucky here in Liberia to have a bishop open to ordaining women -- Bishop George Daniel Brown, a visionary, a leader, a pastor, a good shepherd."
Founded by the U.S.-based Episcopal Church in 1836, the Episcopal Church of Liberia was a diocese in the Episcopal Church until 1980, when it became part of the Anglican Province of West Africa. As part of that change of affiliation, the Episcopal Church and the Liberia diocese established a covenant partnership, which pledges each entity to mutual ministry and interdependence and calls for financial subsidies with an eventual goal of self sufficiency and sustainability for the Church of Liberia.
From 1983 through 2007, the Liberian church received close to $6.6 million from the Episcopal Church.
The most recent version of the covenant was adopted by the Episcopal Church's Executive Council in April. Information about the Episcopal Church's four other covenant partnerships with Anglican provinces is available here.
Liberia, first founded as an American colony in the 1820s as a homeland for freed slaves, became an independent republic in 1847, but kept close ties with the United States. Throughout the 1980s and 90s, Liberia was crushed by civil war, with more than 250,000 people killed and more than one million people displaced.
Under the leadership of Johnson Sirleaf, that nation has started to rebuild.
Precious Johnson said she hopes that women will take the lead in everything.
"We ladies are coming up and one day we'll be there," she said.
January 15, 2010
Liberian president attends Epiphany Mass at St. Thomas Church
Presiding bishop celebrates and preaches
By Lynette Wilson, January 06, 2010
The presiding bishop is nearing the end of a weeklong visit to Liberia at the invitation of the Episcopal Church of Liberia. The visit marks the first time Jefferts Schori has been the official guest of an African church.
About 250 people attended the Mass at St. Thomas, expecting to see the presiding bishop. The president's attendance was not announced.
The previous day, Jan. 5, at the invitation of Johnson Sirleaf, the presiding bishop shared lunch with the president, members of her cabinet --some of them Episcopalians -- and invited guests including Liberia Bishop Jonathan B. B. Hart and Henrique F. Tokpa, the president of Cuttington University, Antoinette "Toni" Daniels, the Episcopal Church's co-director for mission, and the Rev. Emmanuel K. Sserwadda, Episcopal Church program officer for Africa, in the Cabinet Room of the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – the William R. Tolbert building.
At the start of the lunch, Johnson Sirleaf expressed appreciation for the presiding bishop's visit to Liberia and the longstanding partnerships between her country and the Episcopal Church.
"We are pleased with the partnership that our country has and the government has with the Episcopal Church," the president said. "They have been very supportive in health and education and goes back to the 1880s and has remained that way throughout the years through support of education institutions, the hallmark of that being Cuttington University."
During the lunch, Jefferts Schori commended Johnson Sirleaf for her government's work in rebuilding Liberia. She said the healing of Liberia is a light to Africa and the rest of the world; a theme that continued in her Jan. 6 sermon.
Throughout the 1980s and 90s, Liberia, a west African nation of nearly 3.5 million, was crushed by civil war, with more than 250,000 people killed and more than one million people displaced.
The presiding bishop chose "lustration," a word that has its etymological root in "light" and that is used in the final report of Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to draw a connection between the West African country's efforts to recover from nearly two decades of civil war and upheaval to Epiphany.
"Lustration is about light shining and overcoming darkness," she said. "That's also what Epiphany is all about – light shining into a world too often living in shadow. And I can't think of a more fitting image in this nation. As Isaiah says, 'Arise, shine, for your light has come! Darkness may cover the earth, but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will shine around you. Nations will come to your light and, and rulers to the brightness of your dawning.'"
Jefferts Schori then asked: "Is Liberia ready to shine, to become a source of light for others?"
The congregation answered: "Yes."
The opportunity to shine the light is there, but it will take cooperation, shared ministry and the cooperation of all Liberians, those at home and those living abroad, Jefferts Schori said.
"The source of all this light is the presence of love itself in our midst. That light has begun to shine in the darkness, but it hasn't yet penetrated all the dark corners and caves and crevices," she said. "Epiphany celebrates the dawning of awareness of the nations that this light exists in our midst, in spite of the attempts by Herod and others to quench it with darkness."
Light in darkness is needed throughout the world, she said.
"Americans have our own work to do on issues of poverty and racism, immigration, and fear of the stranger, as well as too great a willingness to resort to war and violence," Jefferts Schori said. "As a church we continue to repent for our part in the slave trade that engendered some of the pain of Liberia."
Progress, she added, often leads to the discovery of the long journey still to come.
"We are in abundant need of light," she said.
"Liberia has equally tough work to do – healing from years of war, sorting out how to ensure that God's children can find a place of dignity in this nation – female and male, of every tribal origin, Americo-Liberian, or from other national or ethnic roots," Jefferts Schori said. "Healing will take the gifts of every person here, and some beyond. Where and how can this nation become a light to the nations? What fears need to be engaged? Who will share the hope and confidence to overcome these fears?"
The text of Jefferts Schori's sermon is available here.
The presiding bishop's message was very good for the nation, said the Rev. James B. Sellee, rector of St. Thomas.
"There are a lot of dark spots in our national fabric," he said. "She spoke directly to us."
Sellee and his congregation were thrilled to have the presiding bishop and the president at St. Thomas's, he said.
"It's very historic," Sellee said. "It's a rare opportunity to have the president of a nation and the presiding bishop. We are just thrilled."
St. Thomas members Harriett Wallace, 30, and Wannie Wallace, 38, sisters, both attended Mass and were surprised to see the president.
"I am overwhelmed," said Harriett Wallace, adding that she knew the presiding bishop was coming but didn't expect the president. "It's a joy for me."
Wannie Wallace called the presiding bishop's message inspiring and said she'd like to see Liberia make its way back to a place of "peace, understanding and love."
The president's attending a Mass celebrated by the presiding bishop sends a strong message to women, said Julia Duncan, a member of St. John's Episcopal Church in lower Buchanan County.
"The president coming to this service sends the message that women can do anything they set their mind to," she said.
During her visit, Jefferts Schori has also visited the all-girls Bromley Episcopal Mission School, met with clergy and vestry members, U.S. Embassy and USAID officials, and received an honorary doctorate from Cuttington University. She also preached and celebrated solemn high mass for more than 1,500 people on the second Sunday after Christmas at the cathedral in central Monrovia.
"The presiding bishop's coming to Liberia is an honor for the Church of Liberia," said Hart. "All the Liberians have heard about the presiding bishop in America. Her visit shows that the Episcopal Church in North America values the church in Liberia, and how both churches value partnership."
Founded by the U.S.-based Episcopal Church in 1836, the Episcopal Church of Liberia was a diocese in the Episcopal Church until 1980, when it became part of the Anglican Province of West Africa. As part of that change of affiliation, the Episcopal Church and the Liberia diocese established a covenant partnership, which pledges each entity to mutual ministry and interdependence and calls for financial subsidies with an eventual goal of self sufficiency and sustainability for the Church of Liberia.
From 1983 through 2007, the Liberian church received close to $6.6 million from the Episcopal Church.
The most recent version of the covenant was adopted by the Episcopal Church's Executive Council in April. Information about the Episcopal Church's four other covenant partnerships with Anglican provinces is available here.
January 15, 2010
Presiding bishop receives honorary doctorate in Liberia
By Lynette Wilson, January 05, 2010
Liberia Bishop Jonathan B. Hart and Cuttington University President Henrique F. Tokpa conferred the degree as more than 300 people watched in the university's Epiphany Chapel. Jefferts Schori arrived in Liberia Jan. 2 for a weeklong stay at the invitation of the Episcopal Church of Liberia.
"It's a great honor and privilege to join you here at Cuttington. It has been remarkable experience to not only hear about but to see some of the remarkable work you are doing here," Jefferts Schori said during the convocation. "I see beautiful rice fields, I see very beautiful goats … my husband and I raised goats for more 20 years in Oregon.
Prior to receiving the honorary doctorate, the presiding bishop toured Cuttington University's rice field, rubber plantation, animal farm and library.
"I see the fruits of hard labor and diligent study … your leaders who are trained here go not just all over Liberia to serve and meet people, but all over the world. And on behalf of the Episcopal Church, I can only say thank you, thank you, thank you. Your blessing is reaching far and wide across this globe. May this blessing continue to grow, may it continue to expand and may God's gifts be shared with a world that is exceedingly hungry for those gifts of leadership. God bless you all. Thank you."
As part of her visit to the Diocese of Liberia, Jefferts Schori preached and presided at a high solemn mass at Trinity Cathedral in Monrovia Jan. 3.
Cuttington and Collegiate Divinity Schools were founded in 1889 in southern Liberia by the Episcopal Church, and named in honor of Robert Fulton Cutting, then-treasurer of the church in the United States, who gave $5,000 to found the university. Today, the university is located in Bong County, about three hours north of Monrovia.
The university offers degrees in education, humanities, business and social science; natural resources; nursing; agriculture and integrated development; and theology. The university has 1,400 students, including 200 ex-combatants.
Throughout the 1980s and 90s, Liberia, a west African nation of nearly 3.5 million, was crushed by civil war, with more than 250,000 people killed and more than one million people displaced.
Founded by the U.S.-based Episcopal Church in 1836, the Episcopal Church of Liberia was a diocese in the Episcopal Church until 1980, when it became part of the Anglican Province of West Africa. As part of that change of affiliation, the Episcopal Church and the Liberia diocese established a covenant partnership, which pledges each entity to mutual ministry and interdependence and calls for financial subsidies with an eventual goal of self sufficiency and sustainability for the Church of Liberia.
Jefferts Schori is also expected to visit the all-girls Bromley Episcopal Mission School, meet with clergy and vestry members, U.S. Embassy and USAID officials and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the continent's first elected African woman president.
The visit marks the first time Jefferts Schori has been the official guest of an African church.
December 21, 2009
Presiding Bishop set to visit Liberia
By Lynette Wilson, December 17, 2009At the invitation of Episcopal Church of Liberia Bishop Jonathan B.B. Hart, Jefferts Schori will witness the work of the church, celebrate Mass at Trinity Cathedral in the capital Monrovia and visit Episcopal-affiliated Cuttington University, among other stops both inside and outside the nation's capital. In addition to meeting with diocesan staff, clergy and vestry members, the presiding bishop is scheduled to meet with U.S. Embassy and USAID officials and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the continent's first elected African woman president.
"It will be wonderful for the presiding bishop to go and identify herself with them," said the Rev. Emmanuel K. Sserwadda, Episcopal Church program officer for Africa. "It has been three years since the war ended and the country is still recovering and rebuilding."
Founded by the U.S.-based Episcopal Church in 1836, the Episcopal Church of Liberia was a diocese in the Episcopal Church until 1980, when it became part of the Anglican Province of West Africa. As part of that change of affiliation, the Episcopal Church and the Liberia diocese established a covenant partnership, which pledges each entity to mutual ministry and interdependence and calls for financial subsidies with an eventual goal of self sufficiency and sustainability for the Church of Liberia.
From 1983 through 2007, the Liberian church received close to $6.6 million from the Episcopal Church.
The most recent version of the covenant was adopted by Executive Council in April.
"To understand the significance of the presiding bishop's visit, you have to understand the history," said Bishop Herbert Donovan, deputy to the presiding bishop for Anglican Communion relations. "Liberia has long historical ties to the United States and the Episcopal Church established an early mission field there.
"What is especially significant is that Liberia has a woman president and we have a woman presiding bishop."
Both Jefferts Schori and Johnson Sirleaf took office in 2006. The Monrovia-based Daily Observer newspaper, in an article published Dec. 13, referred to Jefferts Schori as the country's most important visitor in many years.
First founded as an American colony in the 1820s as a homeland for freed slaves, Liberia became an independent republic in 1847, but kept close ties with the United States. Throughout the 1980s and 90s, Liberia was crushed by civil war, with more than 250,000 people killed and more than one million people displaced.
During the war, communication between the church in Liberia and the United States was difficult; still the covenant continued and the Liberian diocese worked to aid internally displaced people and refugees, said Sserwadda.
Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) also operates programs in Liberia. During the war ERD supported the diocese through emergency relief grants, providing food, shelter, clothing and transportation to children, women, handicapped people and others. Post-war, ERD has worked with the diocese to implement a long-term recovery program, said Danielle Tirello, ERD program associate for Africa and the Middle East.
Through its NetsforLife program, ERD has distributed more than 270,000 nets and plans to distribute another 150,000 in 2010, she added.
The diocese, with support from the Episcopal Church, operates social programs to meet the education, health and community development needs of the people of Liberia, as well as the work of spiritual development and financial sustainability. Among other provisions, the current covenant partnership includes a five-year development plan for reconstruction and rehabilitation.
Post-war, Liberia's infrastructure and electric grid remains in ruin, and 15,000 U.N. peacekeeping troops are still on the ground. Former president Charles Taylor is on trial in The Hague for alleged war crimes for supporting rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone.
"It's important for the presiding bishop to see what they are going through and the strength of their faith, which upheld them during their time of war," said Sserwadda.
Old Releases
Through the gracious giving of the Diocese of Maine a donation has been received in the amount of $11,000, specifically earmarked for purposes of education, to supplement the stipends of teachers, and a diocesan-wide initiative to upgrade school programs and facilities throughout the Diocese. Rt. Rev. Dr. Jonathan B.B. Hart and Diocese of Liberia express sincere gratitude for this generous gift.
The Right Reverend Jonathan B.B. Hart has announced the appointment of Rev. Shirley Diggs to the position of Administrative Officer for the Diocese of Liberia. In this new role, she will join as a member of the financial review team.
The Right Reverend Jonathan B.B. Hart has announced the appointment of Reverend Edward Gbe to the newly created position of Diocesan Coordinator for Mission Activities in Liberia.
Due to a very welcomed increase in interest by friends from the United States and Europe, and the needs and plans for our churches and schools, the timing for this is inititative is very opportune.
Reverend Gbe may be contacted at: revfredgbe@yahoo.com
The Alumni of EHS/EES (St. John’s and House of Bethany) invite all to a celebration of the lives and contributions of their many outstanding alumni at Monrovia City Hall at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, November 27, 2009. You are invited to join for fine food, entertainment, friendship and education!
Trinity Church, of Lenox, Massachusetts, has donated $1,500 specifically in response to a request to help our priests and archdeacons have access to internet for improved communications. This donation will purchase necessary wireless modems. We are also requesting laptop computers which we can distribute for wireless usage. Rt. Rev. Dr. Jonathan B.B. Hart and Diocese of Liberia are very grateful for this thoughtful and generous gift.
January 23, 2010
Presiding bishop's visit empowers Liberian girls
"She is an example for young women to become leaders in the world," said Mo-Anna Jeuroulon, president of the school's student council, following a special program to welcome the presiding bishop held in the school's chapel Jan. 5. "She inspired so much in us."
Jefferts Schori visited Bromley during a weeklong visit to Liberia at the invitation of the Episcopal Church of Liberia. The visit marked the first time Jefferts Schori had been the official guest of an African church.
Throughout the 1980s and 90s, Liberia, a nation of 3.5 million people, was crushed by civil war, with more than 250,000 people killed and more than 1 million displaced. The war took an especially harsh toll on Liberia's women, many of whom witnessed or were victims of horrendous violence, as documented in thefinal report of Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
During wartimes, mostly an entire generation of Liberians went uneducated.
Bromley School was founded more than 100 years ago by the Rt. Rev. S.D. Ferguson, the first African-American Episcopal bishop in the United States. The school is located on the St. Paul River in Clay Ashland, Montserrado County, about a 60 minute drive from the nation's capital, Monrovia.
Like most of Liberia's schools, Bromley closed its doors in 1997 during the heighted violence of the nation's decade-and-a-half-long civil war. At war's end in 2003 the school reopened, accepting about 75 orphans rescued from refugee camps. Today the school's enrollment stands at 175 students, of which 125 board at the K-12 school, and the remaining 50 attend classes daily, said Principal Maureen Johnson Hutchinson.
During her visit Jefferts Schori and Liberia Bishop Jonathan B.B. Hart participated in a groundbreaking ceremony for phase-one construction of the school's new teacher's quarters, funded by the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and United Thank Offering. School officials hope the new living quarters will help attract qualified female teachers. Most of the current faculty members are men.
The school operated on a budget of $109,000 in 2009, raising $58,000 through tuition, and the rest through fundraising and donations. It costs $1,000 annually for a student to attend. Many students receive scholarships paid for by Episcopalians, and some parents pay their daughter's tuition, Johnson Hutchinson said.
An all-girls education gives the students a chance to excel both academically and in sports without competition from men; it empowers young women to be assertive, Johnson Hutchinson said.
"Many of the girls in Liberia have low self-esteem, were abused and demoralized," she said. "We need to rebuild their morale and strength and make them feel that they are worth it."
In 2009, nine of Bromley's 15 graduates went on to college, Johnson Hutchinson added.
Chrisneh Mulbah, 18, a senior and president of the class of 2010, hopes to become a medical doctor and credits Bromley with making her more academically inclined and outspoken.
"It has prepared me for the challenges of life," she said in an interview on the steps of the school.
Kimberly Haeringer, a missioner from the Diocese of Virginia, first visited Bromley in November 2007 on a mission trip that she said "changed everything."
Haeringer organized a second mission trip to Liberia in June of 2008, and remains a strong advocate of Bromley. She was at the school the day the presiding bishop visited.
The girls live in conditions that by Western standards would seem almost unlivable, yet not one complains, said Haeringer after the visit.
(Meals, for instance, are cooked on an open fire, there's no indoor plumbing and electrical power is rationed and supplied by a generator.)
"To see their spirits thriving, it's just so moving," she said. "They want to stay here, get an education … and they see themselves as the future leaders of this country."
In 2005, Liberians elected Ellen Johnson Sirleaf president -- the continent's first elected African woman president – who serves as role model to women.
Both Johnson Sirleaf and Jefferts Schori took their respective leadership posts in 2006. The presiding bishop attended a lunch hosted by the president during her visit and the president attended Epiphany Mass.
"Liberian women were so badly abused during the war that they know it wasn't right, and the society knows it wasn't right, and there is a great willingness to hold up women as equal as men," said Jefferts Schori when asked about the importance of women's empowerment and role models in Liberia.
"A lot of the development projects, the MDG (Millennium Development Goals) work, is focused on the needs of women and children … knowing that once women are empowered the whole community begins to flourish," she said.
In terms of acknowledging the full dignity of women, Liberian woman made the kinds of gains in 15 years that it took American woman 150 years to make, she said, adding: "There is an activism about it, and there is an attitude about it that says 'there is no way we are going back to anything but full equality.'"