Zanzibar Cathedral

Today the Anglican Primates are due to worship in Zanzibar Cathedral on the penultimate day of their meeting in Tanzania but there will be absentees due to the divisions in the Communion.

Zanzibar (IPA pronunciation: /ˈzænzɪbɑɹ/) is the collective name for two islands in Tanzania: Unguja and Pemba. The capital of Zanzibar, located on the island of Unguja, is Zanzibar City. The city's old quarter, known as Stone Town, is a World Heritage Site. Although Zanzibar enjoys a high degree of autonomy, it is not a sovereign state: it remains part of Tanzania. The population of Zanzibar was 981,754 in the 2002 census, and its area is 1,651 km.

The Anglican Communion News Service reports:

"On the Sunday of the meeting the Primates will travel by boat to Zanzibar for a Solemn Eucharist in the Anglican Cathedral, where the altar is built over an old slave trading post, as the people of Zanzibar commemorate the 100th anniversary of the last slave sold in Zanzibar and the 200th anniversary of the end of slavery in the British empire."

This is a significant meeting place in view of this year's UK celebrations connected with Wilberforce and the anniversary of the abolition of slavery here. In Scarborough we are just along the cost from Hull where Wilberforce was the local MP at the time.

William Wilberforce, son of Hull, led the long and arduous campaign against the slave trade, which resulted in the abolition bill in 1807, a turning point in British history.
In 2007, it will be 200 years since this momentous occasion. The UK, led by the city of Hull, will commemorate the abolition of the slave trade and celebrate the spirit of bravery, determination and the acceptance of others that helped make it happen.

Lent begins on Wednesday and here in this house and in a local ecumenical group we shall be using this year's York Lent Course:

Can We Build A Better World? Learning from William Wilberforce
John YOUNG
ISBN No: 0954672852

The York Lent Course 2007
With:
Archbishop John Sentamu
Leslie Griffiths
Wendy Craig
The Poor Clare Sisters of Arundel
Introduced by Dr David Hope, former Archbishop of York

'Can we build a better world?' is designed for Group Discussion but is also suitable for individual reflection. The five sessions are:

Slavery: then and now
Friendship & Prayer: then and now
Change & Struggle; then and now
The Bible: then and now
Redemption & Restitution: then and now