Last night I had the opportunity to shake hands with a primate.
At least that's what he called himself.
Let me explain by way of an extremely condensed history lesson:
The Anglican Church is a world-wide Christian denomination that was birthed by the Church of England shortly after the Protestant reformation. It is now represented worldwide, with the Episcopal church as its current branch in America. Each country has its own Archbishop, so there are 38 archbishops (+ the Archbishop of Canterbury). The Archbishops are also known as "Primates." They're kind of a big deal.
Because the Episcopal church in America has been taking stances that many believe are unorthodox with Christian teaching, Anglican churches in other countries have began Anglican Missions in America (AMIA).
One of the AMIA countries is Uganda. The Church of the Resurrection in West Chicago, IL is an AMIA church under the bishopric of Uganda. Last night that church had the privelege of hosting Archbishop Henry Orombi from Uganda, whom I had the pleasure of meeting.
It went like this - I got a backstage pass with my professor (Joe). As Joe went to shake hands with an old friend all of a sudden it was just me and the Archbishop standing there. So, I shook his hand and we started talking a bit.
I wish I would have paid more attention to who we were going to see last night, because when I shook his hand I didn't know his name or his title or anything. Regardless, he was very kind, humorous and generally pleasant. And he has a son named Dan. ("A good, strong name," I assured him.)
The time sitting under his teaching was valuable. I am not Anglican, but I am in an Anglican theology class this term and have been learning about Anglicanism. It's been quite interesting.
I was able to ask the Archbishop a question in the forum:
"What would you say is the greatest strength that the Anglican Church can contribute to the world of Christianity?"
I thought he did an excellent job of responding, and I'll fill you in on his answer in my next post.
2 comments:
What is the reason behind them being called Primates? I just find it very...interesting.
According to Wikipedia (which is the only encyclopedia verified by the Holy Spirit) Primate comes from the Latin "primus," or "first." So, it would be appropriate to call the Archbishop the "First Bishop" of the country.
I guess if the Autobots had an Archbishop... nah. That's too easy. And too lame. :)
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