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Bishop Makundi drops ‘condom crusade’Saint James Parish members still insist that he must goby Daniel Sabuni and Staff Writer Members of the Saint James Anglican Parish have insisted on their decision of not having Simon Makundi, the head of Mt. Kilimanjaro Anglican Diocese, continue to be their Bishop. The members however said they were prepared to forgive the Bishop following his recent decision to ask for forgiveness and drop his condom advocay in the fight against AIDS. Bishop Makundi, is reported to have announced his decision to shelf his condom crusade at a special conflict resolution meeting recently held in Dar es Salaam. The session was attended by 19 Bishops from the Anglican House of Bishops, five delegates from the Diocese of Mt. Kilimanjaro and five members of the St. James Parish’s elders’ council. Last Sunday, a delegation from the House of Bishops came to the Kaloleni-based, St. James parish to explain what was agreed on during the session’s discussion of the long standing controversy. Led by Bishop Simon Chiwanga of the Mpwapwa Diocese, the delegation told the parish that Bishop Makundi had asked for forgiveness from the brethren and that he would no longer advocate condom use. The delegation also included, Bishop Philip Baji from the Diocese of Tanga, and the General Secretary of the Anglican Church in Tanzania, Dr. Mwita Akiri. Bishop Chiwanga admitted that if indeed Simon Makundi was encouraging condom use, then the entire Anglican Church has had its image badly tarnished. Chiwanga added that it was against both the Bible and Christianity. "Bishop Makundi will personally come here and ask for your forgiveness directly", said the Mpwapwa Bishop, during the last Sunday mass at the parish. After his speech, the St. James congregation roared in protest that they won’t be having Makundi back as a Bishop though they have accepted his apology. Edmund Mlemeta, a former pastor of the parish said Makundi has fallen from the grace and lacks the authority of a bishop because even little children kept booing him off. However, Chiwanga assured the congregation that, St. James Parish had been placed under the House of Bishops which is the final decision making body for the Anglican Church in Tanzania. For the last three years, the St. James Parish had been locked in conflict with their Bishop after the latter was quoted as saying the use of condoms was necessary in the war against HIV-AIDS. But like most people of the Christian faith, the St. James members found the idea of introducing condom talks within the Church was a way of encouraging promiscuous sex. Bishop Makundi later tried to close down the St. James
Church but the brethren won the battle.
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