ANGLICAN’S ADVENT CANON NHLANHLA LEAVING FOR SCOTLAND

MBABANE – It is final, Cathedral of All Saints Rector Advent Canon Nhlanhla Dlamini is leaving the church for Scotland.

This follows that the All Saints Cathedral Church has been rocked by controversy, among which the advent canon and his archdean were transferred to Mhlume and recently the revocation of his pastoral licence. However, the above remains in the past now as Advent Canon Nhlanhla requested to join a ministry outside of the Diocese of Eswatini. According to the Chairperson of the Anglican of Southern Africa Safe and Inclusive Church, Lay Canon Rosalie Manning, the All Saints Parish will be led by a retired senior priest. Manning stated that Bishop Dalcy Dlamini would also assist the parish with moving on and to prepare the church for a change in pastoral ministry. The chairperson further stated that at this stage, it was not considered prudent to proceed with disciplinary action while allowing the work of transformative justice to take place.

“Bishop Dalcy has committed to leading the work of healing, restoration and building within the Diocese of Eswatini as necessary,” Manning said. Manning added that a task team to oversee the implementation of the recommendations of this process, particularly the transformative justice process, would be established and it would comprise members of the Cathedral of All Saints Parish and the Diocese of the Safe and Inclusive Church. On the issue of Advent Canon Nhlanhla, she said currently they would be reaching out to where he had indicated that he would prefer to be placed in Scotland. “We have already started that process and Bishop Dalcy will write the letter of recommendation and speak to a bishop in Scotland, which has to be approved by the archbishop,” Manning added.

Sabbatical

Manning noted that it had been agreed that Advent Canon Nhlanhla would officially leave the All Saints Cathedral on October 31, 2023 after his term of office comes to an end and thereafter have a two-month paid sabbatical that would be followed by a 55 days paid leave. Sabbaticals are periods of paid time away from work, which are agreed between the employer and employee. She said Advent Canon Nhlanhla indicated that he would appreciate support with transitioning within the parish and pastoral support would be made available to him and the parish. Manning said what they discovered was that the parish of All Saints Cathedral really loved advent Canon Nhlanhla. She said they had to explain that the movement and transfer of Advent Coan Nhlanhla was entirely the prerogative of the bishop. Manning said there was a process to be followed and in this instance, it was followed to the letter. She said Bishop Dalcy would make available some pastoral support to the parish and she had also undertaken to get a retired bishop to be the pastor of the All Saints Cathedral and also make herself available to assist.

Manning said it had been a time of great pain and hardship to everybody and at this time they did not think it would serve any purpose to institute disciplinary hearing and a recommendation of transformative justice was made to be overseen by a task team, which comprised of members of the cathedral, diocese in leadership and the Safe and Inclusive Church. She said they were privileged as a church to have Reverend Michael Lapse, who is an expert in the work of transformative justice and would reach out to him. When questioned if she was happy about the decision by the commission, Bishop Dalcy said she was pleased. On the other hand Advent Canon Nhlanhla said he did not have a comment. Deris Hlophe, who is the Church Warden at All Saints, said they would comment after seeing the media statement.

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