Episcopal Succession

 

The Right Reverend Dr. Steven Ayule-Milenge (PhD): From 2012- present)  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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History

 

In the 2000, the Anglican Province of Congo (Canterbury) ordained the first women to the Priesthood. Many Orthodox Christian Anglicans were very against with that decision. They did not know where to find a Church where they could be happy. Then, when Reverend Father Steven AYULE-MILENGE was in Johannesburg, South Africa; he met the Right Reverend Trevor Rhodes, Bishop of the Traditional Anglican Church in Southern Africa. Bishop Rhodes licensed him to build up a Ministry among French speaking refugees and poor citizens in the City of Johannesburg. He opened a church and served as the parish priest of Saint Francis of Assise Bez-Valley and Diocesan Project Officer, from January 2001 to December 2004. Father Steven AYULE-MILENGE+ was licensed by the Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, Archbishop John Hepworth to establish the Church. He returned home to establish the Traditional Anglican Communion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo without any fund to register the church. He was obliged to sell his house and car to get income for establishing the TAC in the country. The TAC has received Government recognition in Democratic Republic of Congo under the name in French “Eglise Catholique Anglicane au Congo”. The Anglican Catholic Church in Congo was, registered December 30, 2004; and gets his Government forever recognition registration by the Decree of Minister of Justice of November 16, 2009 in Democratic Republic of Congo.

 

ACC-Congo leaves Traditional Anglican Communion for ACC-OP. Father. Steven Ayule-Milenge, the leader of the Église Catholique Anglicane au Congo (ECAC), has pulled his church body out of TAC and aligned his group with the Anglican Catholic Church and its U.S. Archbishop Mark Haverland. The serious reasons provoked the change including Archbishop Hepworth's refusal to visit in five years that he discouraged priests and lay faithful in Canada to support financially the Francophone church in Africa. He removed a Fr. David Marriott from the position of Primate's chaplain to French speaking churches in Africa because he sought to gain financial support for the TAC group when the office of the primate lacked funding.

 

The diocesan synod of the ECAC expressed its displeasure with the Primate of the TAC because he failed to show up to celebrate the fifth anniversary of TAC in the RD Congo, which took place in November 2009. "We beseeched him to come or send another bishop to show his communion with us, so that the other dignitaries invited to the ceremonies might come to respect the presence of the TAC in Congo. The request of Congolese was ignored, or was never read. In the meanwhile, the Archbishop has been several times to Africa, but has limited himself to visits to Zambia and Kenya, ordaining deacons in these two Anglophone countries. The diocesan synod of the ECAC has called the Archbishop of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) John Hepworth "a mercenary and not a shepherd"

 

We have expressed concern several times about the decision taken by the local bishop of the Anglican Church (Canterbury) to ordain deacons who lacked theological training, with a view to the destabilization and disruption of our efforts in the parishes: we have had to find a reply to the allegations that our church is but a fiction, with no link to the TAC: if we were true members of TAC, an Episcopal visit would have confirmed the validity of the ECAC. Due to the serious nature of this situation, the diocesan council has asked for the presence of a French speaking resident assistant or Suffragan bishop, able to visit parishes in the forest, where there are no roads, and also able to communicate in two of the 4 national languages of the country. He would thus be well equipped to perform his Episcopal and sacramental duties: an urgent need expressed to the Primate of the TAC. We would have liked to have had our 16 candidates for ordination ordained to the diaconate at the time of the 5th anniversary of TAC in Congo."

 

The ECAC blasted Hepworth saying that during this time of armed conflict and war in the provinces of eastern Congo, there was no message of consolation and encouragement from the Archbishop Primate of the TAC. A simple letter from the communion might play an important part in offering comfort and care to those faithful directly affected by the conflict in which so many women and girls have been the victims of rape and sexual violence. Other churches established in Congo have responded, such as the Old Catholic church, Liberal Catholic church, Episcopal Charismatic church, Canterbury Province of the Anglican Church of Congo, Protestant churches all of whom have sent ministers, bishops and archbishops to offer solace for the pain suffered by the Christians in eastern Congo. Even the Roman Catholic Church has had a delegation of eight bishops sent by Rome to offer comfort to their Christians in the parishes of eastern Congo.

 

This lack of consolation towards the faithful of TAC in Congo has led our people to consider carefully the future of the church about the TAC. They have taken note of the silence experienced by the Francophone church as compared to the Anglophone church: so that, despite the work that we have undertaken to establish TAC in Africa, there has been no written encouragement. It is as if our efforts are reduced to be invalid because we are 'coloured' by our language, being Francophone. In the Congo, the Anglican Catholic Church (TAC) is vibrant and dynamic, despite material poverty and the lack of servants (clergy and a resident Bishop) - although there are men available who are qualified and trained to take up their Ministry who await their authorization from the Archbishop and Primate of TAC, things were negligent. Our faithful continued to receive the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist 4 times a year in the nine parishes of the thirteen, which make up our church - which is to say 80% of the Christians in Congo. There has been no Sacrament of Confirmation in the past five years due to the lack of a Bishop. Father Steven Ayule-Milenge was attacked by the militias leaving him grievously wounded he received no message no note of encouragement from Archbishop Hepworth, just some messages from my personal friends, and an e-mail message from Archbishop Haverland.

 

Describing the attitude of Hepworth and TAC as "negative and dismissive towards the ECAC" Father Steven Ayule-Milenge was forced to consider the only other "continuum" offshoot in Africa namely the ACC- OP "We decided that it behooved us to make some research about this original continuum church. Because of this, an Episcopal visit was being planned shortly after Easter. This has led the Congolese church to conclude that, following the words of the Gospel in St. John 10.12-13 that the responsible person of the TAC is a mercenary who is not a shepherd, and to whom the sheep do not belong, as the wolf comes, he abandons his flock and flees, and wolf ravages the flock and scatters them. The mercenary flees because he is an employee, and will not stay and suffer the pain with his flock." Father Steven Ayule-Milenge+ has been inspired by Archbishop Haverland, who took pity on them He is the one shepherd in the heart of the "continuum", who has proclaimed the Affirmation of St. Louis in Missouri in 1977.

           

 

Bishop Ordinary

 

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The Reverend Father Steven AYULE-MILENGE + the Vicar General of the Church established the Anglican Catholic Church in Congo on December 2004. He was born October 20, 1962 in the small eastern Congo city of Mihenga. His father was an Anglican priest. He was educated in Primary and Secondary schools in the Democratic Republic of Congo (called Zaïre from 1972 to 1997). His Bachelor’s degree in Communication is from a Belgian University in Brussels at 1990. His theological studies were at Uganda Christian University Mukono (UCU) and South Africa Theological Seminary in Johannesburg where he earned Bachelor Arts of Theology in field of Systematic Theology at 2004. After he went at Trinity Graduate School of Apologetics and Theology, Karela, India where he was graduated Master of Theology and Apologetics 2012. He has earned his Philosophy Doctor in Theology (PhD) with Atlantic Coast Theological Seminary, Daytona, Florida, USA, 2014.

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He was ordained in the Canterbury Communion as a deacon in 1996 and as a priest in 1998.  When the Congolese Anglicans adopted the ordination of women in 2000, against the wishes of many clergy and lay members. Then-Father Steven AYULE-MILENGE+ went to South Africa in 2001 as a refugee following his father’s murder during unrest in the eastern Congo.

In South Africa he met the Continuing Church through then-Father Alan Kenyon-Hoare, now retired Bishop of Southern Africa in the Anglican Catholic Church. Since that time he has been associated with the Traditional Anglican Communion (in South Africa) and then with the Anglican Catholic Church.

He returned home (Democratic Republic of Congo and established the ministry (Anglican Catholic Church in Congo) in December 2004. Father Steven AYULE-MILENGE+ led the Congolese church into the worldwide Anglican Catholic Church (ACC) as a whole in November 2009. By an Act of XIX Provincial synod of the ACC, the Missionary Diocese of Congo was, formally established in October 2011. In the same year Father Steven AYULE-MILENGE+ was elected as the first Bishop Ordinary of the ACC-Missionary Diocese of Congo. On the Feast of Saint Hedwig, October 16, 2012 he was Consecrated first Bishop Ordinary of the ACC- Missionary Diocese of Congo at the Church of the Holy Guardian Angels, Lantana, Florida, USA by His Grace Archbishop Mark Haverland acting Primate of the worldwide Anglican Catholic Church.

 

Bishop +Steven AYULE-MILENGE has been instrumental in advancing the church’s mission of bringing healing to these war-torn areas where the death toll from the conflict has been estimated to be as high as 5 million. The Missionary Diocese of Congo has more than 1934 members divided into 22 parishes with 68 total number churches, mostly in the Regions of Kivu, Kasaï Oriental, Lomami and Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The most activities are located on the DRCongo borders with Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania, the Kivu Region is one of the most troubled areas in all of Africa, being subject to repeated invasion and devastation since the late 1990s. The church is active consists of the parishes along the road leading South from Uvira, through the villages to Baraka, and then into the hills around Fizi; all these are between Lake Tanganyika and the Mounts Mitumba. The problem is that there is great poverty, made worse by the constant threat of militia attack. The area is a gloriously fertile land; villagers set up stalls with fresh bananas and other fruit for sale, fish in the lake, and cultivate manioc, the staple food. The activity of the church is concentrated in the province of the South Kivu. A look at the map shows that this province follows the Great Rift Valley, with Lake Tanganyika on the east and, to the west, the Mounts Mitumba, on the other side of which is the tropical forest. The church in the provinces of Kasaï Oriental and Lomami is situated in the central area of the country; and in the western Kinshasa, capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo where is a new established mission.

 

Much of the fighting are due by local and foreign militias, peace has been very difficult to achieve. The areas still suffers from the aftereffects of a brutal conflict, where starvation and rape were commonly used weapons against the civilian population. Many widows are the product of the war, which ended in 2008 (although random evidence still happens with sad regularity) and of the illicit mining of precious metals: where the militias and the private armies control the land and employ men to dig out the minerals, which are then sold to provide weapons and support for the militias. These mines have no safety provisions, indeed to provide a little more than holes in the ground, and many men, seeking to provide a little for their families, die in mining accidents-so the women are left destitute.

 

Under the leadership of Bishop +Steven AYULE-MILENGE, the Anglican Catholic Church body has been able to carry out a great deal of humanitarian work, particularly through providing economic assistance and counseling to victims of sexual abuse. The ACC-Parish of Saint Matthew, Newport Beach, California, USA is funding the construction of Sewing Training Centre to assist women raped to earn their life through the training of sewing. The Centre is a real an area for training, counseling and evangelism to in the souls of those who have not yet believed Jesus-Christ as their Lord and Savior. Bishop +Steven AYULE-MILENGE has, also been working with the Federal and Regional governments of DRCongo to provide new opportunities for education, of children and adults. The Missionary Diocese of Congo was authorized to open 36 schools around the Province of South Kivu, one of the areas hardest hit by the fighting. The schools as the churches are, built with mud and grasses.