The Archbishop of York has begun a six-month walking pilgrimage in the 21 deaneries of his diocese. The pilgrimage, spanning the church calendar from Advent to Trinity Sunday, began from Whitby, site of a famous monastery dating from 657.
Archbishop John Sentamu will travel through the Archdeaconry of the East Riding and finish at York Minster on May 22. Archbishop Sentamu embarked on a similar journey in 2005 when he was Bishop of Birmingham. He said: “As I have prayed and waited on God, I have been inspired by the great Northern Saints, such as Aidan, Cuthbert, and Hilda who took to the road to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.”
What Would Mandela Think?: What would Nelson Mandela think of South Africa today? The Most Rev. Thabo Makgoba, Archbishop of Cape Town, posed the question at a service at St. George’s Cathedral on Dec. 6 that marked the second anniversary of Mandela’s death.
“Today and for generations to come, Madiba will be revered around the world as an inspirational symbol of peace and forgiveness, but also of the justice on which they must be based,” Makgoba said, referring to Mandela by his beloved tribal name. “If he were alive today, what would he think of South Africa?” Makgoba singled out use of R246 million (US $17 million) of public funds on the private home of President Jacob Zuma, and apparent political assassinations among a longer list of political abuses.
Tutus on Our Last Chance: The COP21 climate conference in Paris is humanity’s “last chance” and “global warming is the human rights challenge of our time,” Desmond Tutu and his daughter Mpho have written for The Huffington Post. “We are in uncharted territory. Never before have representatives of the entire human family had the opportunity to sit down together and collectively change the trajectory of our species and our earth.”
Archbishop Thabo Makgoba is a global climate ambassador for ACT Alliance, a worldwide coalition of 137 churches and affiliated organizations working for sustainable change, and was present for the beginning of the conference last week.
