Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe received the following letter on May 14 from the Most Rev. Thabo Makgoba, archbishop of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA). On May 12, Bishop Rowe announced that The Episcopal Church would end its refugee resettlement grant agreements with the U.S. government after being asked to resettle white Afrikaners from South Africa.
The Episcopal Church has long had a connection with ACSA, first speaking against apartheid and commending the South African church’s witness against it in 1958. Beginning in 1966, The Episcopal Church urged church institutions to reconsider investing in South Africa. Later, the church supported the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission—led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who was then head of what is now ACSA.