This year I will complete the six months set aside for this important experience. In the month of April, Marcie and I plan to travel to East Africa. This African pilgrimage will be a time to learn about the people, cultures, and Christian mission as we visit fellow Christians in the nations that surround Lake Victoria. We are grateful for the encouragement and support that we have received from our diocese, the Presiding Bishop, and from the Office of Anglican and Global Relations.

Our first destination is Rwanda where we will represent the Diocese of Southwest Florida and the Episcopal Church during the Days of Remembrance in this 10th year since the genocide in Rwanda. Many of you had the opportunity to meet Fr. Philbert Kalisa during his visit to our diocese this past fall. At the invitation of his ministry, REACH (Reconciliation, Evangelism and Christian Healing), we will spend Holy Week in Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda, and share in the commemoration of this tragic event in the history of Rwanda and our global community.

As Christians and citizens of the United States, we have a duty to contemplate and confess our own complicity that enabled this tragic event to take place in 1994. We turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the cries of the persecuted when 1.2 million people were murdered in 100 days. We did not encourage our government through a United Nations peacekeeping force to intervene and stop the bloodshed. It is ironic that our inaction in Rwanda took place at a time when we continued our involvement with the end of apartheid in South Africa where we had significant material concerns.

Our four weeks’ travel time will take us to three countries. Following our time in Rwanda, we will also have the opportunity to strengthen bonds that unite the ministry of this diocese with the work of the church in Kenya and Uganda. We have accepted an invitation to visit Bishop and Mrs. Zebedee Mazereka and to see first hand their work with the orphans of the AIDS epidemic in their country. Bishop Masereka has asked Marcie to serve on the board for their ministry to the victims of this contemporary plague.

We also plan to visit Bishop and Mrs. Dunstan Bukenya of the Diocese of Mityana. Bishop Dunstan has a long-standing relationship with our diocese through the mission outreach of St. Dunstan’s Church in Largo and the work of Mrs. Betty Gentry. While in Uganda we also hope to visit the new Archbishop of Uganda, as well as the former Archbishop, who along with his wife, Ruth, is known to many of us.

Through newly established relationships with the Church in Kenya, we will travel to the Diocese of Nyahururu. I have received a gracious invitation to preach and celebrate in that diocese by their bishop, The Rt. Rev. Charles Gaika. We also hope to visit a peacebuilding ministry in Nairobi headed by a colleague in ministry whom we met in the first half of sabbatical two years ago at Eastern Mennonite University.

We have come to a crossroad in our life as Anglicans where the bond between our Church and our Communion partners in East Africa is severely strained. It is my prayer that this Sabbath pilgrimage will help us to heal and strengthen relationships that we share in Christ. We take this journey in a spirit of humility and dependence. We know that we have much to learn from those who have a deep passion for the Gospel that bears fruit for the Kingdom of God. We pray that our journey will support the work accomplished in the name of Jesus for the healing of the nations. I ask the prayers of this diocese as we make this journey. Pray that it may be a step on the path of our reconciliation in Christ. Pray that it may be a sign of the love of God that offers each of us forgiveness and new life in Jesus Christ our Lord.

In His Name,
+John IV

Bishop asks for prayers during Africa trip
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Every congregation will soon receive a film produced by REACH Rwanda that will in broad outline tell the story of the genocide ten years ago and the reason for our April pilgrimage to Africa. I hope that you will share this with members of your congregation in adult forums and other settings as may be appropriate. During Holy Week, it is our privilege to represent you and our Church in Rwanda as they mourn the past and look to a hope-filled and peaceful future.

The Offering at the Liturgy of Good Friday is by tradition collected for the work of the Church in the Holy Lands. I request that this year congregations divide that offering between the Church in the Holy Lands and the work of REACH Rwanda (Reconciliation, Evangelism and Christian Healing). I pray that we will give generous support for this ministry working to reconcile and heal those lives scarred by the genocide. Please send separate checks to the diocesan office that we will in turn send to the designated mission.

On 30 March, Marcie and I will leave for our pilgrimage to Africa. Our journey will allow us to stand with our sisters and brothers in Rwanda as they remember the horror of the genocide 10 years ago. The details still defy comprehension, as does the Holocaust in Europe under the reign of terror of the National Socialism in the 1930s and '40s. What is even more disturbing is that the Great Powers, as well as the Church, once again stood by and allowed the slaughter of approximately 1.2 million human beings in 100 days.

The United Nations has designated 7 April, as a day set aside for the world to pause and remember this contemporary holocaust and say, "Never again!" As human beings, we must say "never again" to the methodical murder that attempts to exterminate a people. Our pilgrimage is one of mourning and confession as we in some very small way attempt to ask the forgiveness of our sisters and brothers for our part in their tragedy and to assure them that we stand with them as they build a future in security and peace.

I ask for your daily prayers while we are in Rwanda. We will arrive in Kigali on 2 April. On the day of our arrival, we will have the opportunity to meet with the Archbishop of Rwanda and several government leaders. Holy Week will find us at prayer and worship as we find refreshment and renewal in the presence of our fellow Christians. I will also have many opportunities to preach to gatherings of Christians from several denominations, as well as to members of the Muslim community. The following is our itinerary for our time in Rwanda:

• 3 April: Prayer meeting in Muhazi District
• 4 April: English services at the Anglican Cathedral in Kigali
• 5 April: Prayer meeting organized by REACH Rwanda
• 6 April: A visit to ECUSA missionaries
• 7 April: Government Commemoration Ceremonies
• 8 April: Holy Communion at the Anglican Parish of Ruhanga
• 9 April: Journey to Ruhengeri for worship at an Anglican parish in the Diocese of Shyria
• 10 April: Trek to see the mountain gorillas
• 11 April: Easter Day services at the Cathedral in Kigali
• 12 April: Meeting of members of REACH Rwanda, REACH Rwanda UK and REACH Rwanda US.

On 13 April, we will travel to Kenya to continue our pilgrimage as we meet and share ministry with the Church in that nation and with colleagues working in peace-building ministries. Then 21 April, we will be in Uganda visiting work in several of the dioceses of that country. We will start for home 29 April. Please pray for us each day and for the building of bridges between our diocese and the peoples of the Lake Victoria area. You will be in our prayers as we carry you in our hearts on this journey.

May God bless you as we come to the days of our Lord's Passion and Resurrection.

In Christ,
+ John, SWFL, IV