The former Director of Programmes for the Christian Council of Ghana, and the Regional Manager of CMS West Africa, J. W. Kofi deGraft-Johnson, has begun his new role as General Secretary of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA). He succeeds Canon Grace Kaiso, who has taken up an advisory role with the Anglican Alliance.
A former soldier who served in East Timor has been announced as the new Anglican Bishop to the Defence Force in Australia. Grant Dibden has been approved by the Australian Federal Minister for Veteran Affairs and Defence Force Personnel to be the Anglican representative on the Religious Advisory Committee to the Services.
Elsewhere in the Anglican Church of Australia, the Archdeacon of Wangaratta, Clarence Edgar Bester, has been consecrated as the 11th Bishop of Wangaratta. His installation took place on 22 February at Holy Trinity Cathedral in the city.
In the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Bishop of Argyll and The Isles, Kevin Pearson will be enthroned as the new Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway at a service at St Mary’s Cathedral in Glasgow in July. His election took place during a meeting of the Episcopal Synod in January; and creates a vacancy for the See of Argyll & The Isles.
Archbishop Leonard Dawea’s successor as Bishop of Temotu, Willie Tungale, was installed on 16 February. The see became vacant following Archbishop Leonard’s installation as Bishop of Central Melanesia and Primate of the Anglican Church of Melanesia in September.
In the Church of the Province of South East Asia, Dr Titus Chung has been appointed as the 10th Bishop of Singapore. Canon Titus is currently the Priest in Charge of St Andrew Cathedral’s Mandarin Congregation. He will be consecrated and installed in October of this year.
Following a lengthy political and legal process, the Diocese of Cuba has been readmitted to the US-based Episcopal Church (TEC). The formal re-admission of the Diocese was confirmed by TEC’s Executive Council this month in a unanimous vote.
The diocese had became separated from TEC following the Cuban revolution. During its absence it existed as one of a small number of “extra provincial” dioceses within the Anglican Communion; served by a “Metropolitical Council” comprising the Presiding Bishop of TEC, the Archbishop of Canada and the Archbishop of the West Indies.
The changing political situation meant that it was possible, once again, for the Diocese to return home. The move was backed by two separate unanimous votes in both the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies at TEC’s General Convention in July 2018. This month’s vote by the Executive Council followed the completion of agreed administrative and canonical requirements. Cuba is part of TEC’s Province II, which includes New York, New Jersey, Haiti and the Virgin Islands. A service to mark the completion of the journey will take place in March.
Elsewhere in TEC, Bonnie Perry has been consecrated as the Bishop of Michigan. She succeeds Bishop Wendell Gibbs Jr who retired in December 2019; and Susan Haynes has been consecrated as Bishop of Southern Virginia. She succeeds Bishop Herman Hollerith IV who retired in January last year.