BISHOP JOHNSON RESPONDS TO MKNEWSLINK STORY

By Wilber Muhwezi Kasibante
In Bushenyi—
The West Ankole diocesan bishop;Rt.Rev. Johnson Twinomujuni has responded to the published on www.mknewslink.com on Friday of January5, 2018 reveling his stand.
On behalf of the bishop, the Diocesan Secretary; Rev.Can.Arthur Atwiine says when Bishop Twinomujuni refused to confirm Christian faithful at was rightly applying instructions stated in the Book of Common Prayer, page 254 .He argues that there is no way how the bishop could confirm half baked Baronde into Christianity.

Atwiine says the Christian faithfuls (Abaronde) at Ryakasinga were thereafter prepared and confirmed as the bishop had instructed.

On the issue of failure to ordain the clergy at Katungu, the bishop says the despite being agreed to produce more clergy, there were no places where they could be deployed.
On the issue of Rev.Can.Kamwerinde, the bishop says transferring a clergy from an archdeaconry to a parish is not a demotion, arguing that an Archdeacon is still a priest who can serve in a parish or any other place.

He says according to the church canons, the bishop has both ecclesiastic and legal mandate to transfer any clergy to serve in any part and position in his area of jurisdiction.

On the issue of running the diocese without communications office, the bishop says very soon the communications officer will be appointed at Bweranyangi cathedral to us which is good but overdue.

However, www.mknewslink.com would like to put it clear that the case of Christian faithfuls (Abaronde) to fail the confirmation interview at Kyogyera was the first of it’s own kind since inception of West Ankole diocese thus newsworthy.
Rev.Can.Atwiine says the bishop has met the www.mknewslink.com journalist which is not true. The pictures he used were taken in May 2017 a week after bishop Twinomujuni had been consecrated. ,
Source: www.mknewslink.com a greater western Uganda news website
Email: wmuhwezi75@gmail.com
Tel. +256702680106

BISHOP’S RESPONSE BELOW:
I write to express our thanks to God for the kind of leader the Lord has given us in the person of Bishop Johnson.

The article that was run on some platforms about our bishop is unfortunate and simply a distortion of the facts, and it portrays a bad and wrong picture about our bishop.

We thank our Bishop for the way he is putting us on the right path as we all move towards a model diocese.

On behalf of the clergy and on my own as their Chair and DS, this is our response in light of the so called accusations:

Refusing to confirm half baked _baronde_ is to us an excellent act. The Bishop was rightly applying instructions stated in the Book of Common Prayer, page 254.

Also, all those candidates were thereafter well prepared and confirmed as the bishop had kindly instructed. This has created a good wave, and now in all churches the clergy ensure that confirmation candidates are well prepared before the bishop confirms them.

The bishop together with all archdeacons met and agreed to wait on ordaining more clergy. This is due to the fact that we already have too big a number, and we could not get where to deploy them. They are now all well placed, serving as Lay Readers. That’s not a blunder; it’s a wise decision instead.

Transferring a clergy from an archdeaconry to a parish is not a demotion. An Archdeacon is still a priest who can serve in a parish or any other place. As clergy we are ok with that because we know the difference between an office and an order. Besides, there are critical and sound reasons that lead to such kind of transfers, and we thank the bishop for his sober judgement.

According to our church canons, the bishop has both ecclesiastic and legal mandate to transfer any clergy to serve in any part and position in his area of jurisdiction.

No clergy has a right not to accept. We all vow to obey the bishop. Our bishop understands. He has both the mind and heart to handle matters of faith and order well. It is very unfortunate that someone should call him a dictator because he talks to us and we are moving together.

Bweranyangi Cathedral has no communications officer! Also, a clergy can be transferred from an office to a parish or vice versa and soon or later be duly replaced. We’ll soon get the diocesan communications officer, but this has nothing to do with not being ‘in good terms with media practitioners’ as the writer has put it. As a matter of fact, our bishop has a very cordial relationship with the media people, even at a much higher level.

We were very concerned that one individual could dare to distort our bishop’s talk and give the public a wrong message. This is why the Bishop met that responsible journalist and advised him not to do such a thing. Nobody has a right to distort our bishop’s message. We all know who he is.

Finally, I once again thank God for where our diocese is heading under the leadership of Bishop Johnson. We prayed for West Ankole. Let us all support our Bishop and move forward.

Rev. Canon Arthur Atwine
Diocesan Secretary, WAD