Nigeria’s Most Reverend Josiah Idowu-Fearon has been appointed as Secretary-General of the 85 million-member Anglican Communion Consultative Council of the Anglican Worldwide. He emerged after a competitive election amongst all the qualified leaders in the World Anglican Communion.
Dr. Idowu-Fearon, who was formally commissioned today in London, also received President Muhammadu Buhari’s Emissary, Mallam Adamu Adamu, who wished him success in his new post.
He beat other applicants from Oceania, Asia, Europe and the Americas to assume the mostly ambassador type post at a time when the worldwide communion remains estranged over homosexuality and same-sex marriages, especially in Africa.
“He is articulate and very well educated,” said Bishop Julius Kalu of Mombasa, Kenya, diocese. “His position on traditional Anglicanism is very firm. This is good for us.”
Kalu said the appointment had come at the right time, when African Anglicans needed a bigger voice within the communion.
“The church is growing fastest here,” said Kalu. “We also have the largest membership.”
Idowu-Fearon, who succeeds Kenneth Kearon, now a bishop in the Church of Ireland, is the first African to be appointed to the post.
In a letter delivered to Dr. Idowu-Fearon in London, President Buhari said that all Nigerians are proud of his elevation into one of the most important offices in the world of faith.
The President also applauded Bishop Idowu-Fearon’s emergence, after a highly competitive selection process, as the first African to occupy the office.
“With your intellect, with great pastoral zeal and with compassion, you have over the years risen above intolerance and narrow sectarianism and built interfaith and ecumenical bridges of understanding among your countrymen.
“We salute your special gift of clearly articulating the essence and beauty of the many bonds that bind us. You have lived up to your calling and attained your self-stated goals of creating a culture of respect for differences, a culture of accepting human beings for what they are and playing down the things that divide them.
“Our nation and the world will certainly be a better place if all men of God approach pastoral work with the same patience, compassion and fidelity to higher principles that you have exhibited in the various offices you have held.
“It is our prayer that, in your new position, God uses you to counsel and move the entire worldwide Anglican Communion in the direction in which you have taken the Anglican Church in Nigeria—towards an intimate knowledge of others, and sincere fellowship with everyone.
“This is the imperative of the moment: it is what the world direly needs today.” President Buhari wished Bishop Idowu-Fearon God’s guidance and success at his new post in the Anglican Communion Office in London. [myad]
