Valentino Leonard Mokiwa (born 1954) is a former Tanzanian Anglican Archbishop. He was elected as the Primate and Archbishop of the

Anglican Church of Tanzania The Anglican Church of Tanzania (ACT) is a province of the Anglican Communion based in Dodoma. It consists of 28 dioceses (27 on the Tanzanian mainland, and 1 on Zanzibar) headed by their respective bishops. It seceded from the Province of East A ...

in 2008 and occupied the position until 2013. Since being elected in April 2002, Mokiwa was the Bishop of the Diocese of Dar es Salaam, until his deposition in January 2017.

Education

Mokiwa studied at

Virginia Theological Seminary Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS), formally called the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia, located at 3737 Seminary Road in Alexandria, Virginia is the largest and second oldest accredited Episcopal seminary in the Unit ...

, in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, and became a principal at St. Mark's Theological College in Dar es Salaam.

Career

Mokiwa was Bishop of the Diocese of Dar es Salaam when he was elected the new Archbishop of Tanzania in a special session held during the General Synod of his church in Dodoma, on 28 February 2008. He was installed in Dodoma on 25 May 2008, succeeding

Donald Mtetemela Donald Leo Mtetemela (born 1947) is a former Tanzanian Anglican archbishop. He was archbishop and primate of the Anglican Church of Tanzania, from 1998 to 2008. He is married and has seven children. He was raised in an Anglican family from the A ...

. He lost the reelection in a controversial runoff on 21 February 2013 to

Jacob Chimeledya Jacob Erasto Chimeledya (born Zoisa, Kongwa, 28 August 1957) is a Tanzanian Anglican bishop. He was elected archbishop and primate of the Anglican Church of Tanzania on 21 February 2013 in a vote against the incumbent, Valentino Mokiwa, in a con ...

, who was amid fraud charges. Mokiwa's successor would be enthroned on 19 May 2013. While Mokiwa remained as Bishop of Dar es Salaam upon his defeat, he decided not to attend the GAFCON II, held in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper h ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

, in October 2013.

Beliefs

Mokiwa, a theological Anglo-Catholic, like his predecessor, was also strongly critical of the departures of the Anglican tradition taken by the Episcopal Church of the

and the Anglican Church of Canada. He supported the

Anglican realignment The Anglican realignment is a movement among some Anglicans to align themselves under new or alternative oversight within or outside the Anglican Communion. This movement is primarily active in parts of the Episcopal Church in the United States ...

, attending the

Global Anglican Future Conference The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) is a series of conferences of conservative Anglican bishops and leaders, the first of which was held in Jerusalem from 22 to 29 June 2008 to address the growing controversy of the divisions in the An ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, in 2008, and shortly after, the

Lambeth Conference The Lambeth Conference is a decennial assembly of bishops of the Anglican Communion convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The first such conference took place at Lambeth in 1867. As the Anglican Communion is an international association ...

. He also expressed his support for the

Anglican Church in North America The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition in the United States and Canada. It also includes ten congregations in Mexico, two mission churches in Guatemala, and a missionary diocese in Cuba ...

, launched in 2009.

Deposition

Mokiwa was deposed by Archbishop

in January 2017, after he declined to resign in the wake of a corruption provincial investigation in the Diocese of Dar es Salaam. He refused to accept the deposition and filed a lawsuit against this decision. Mokiwa and Bishop Raphael Hafidh, of the Diocese of Kibondo, were both arrested after an angry exchange took place at a bishops meeting of the Anglican Church of Tanzania, in February 2017, but where released soon after.Mokiwa arrested, Anglican Ink, 6 February 2017
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References

External links

New Primate Elected for Tanzania, Global South Anglican Online, 29 February 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mokiwa, Valentino 1954 births Living people Tanzanian Anglicans Tanzanian Anglo-Catholics 21st-century Anglican archbishops Anglo-Catholic bishops Anglican bishops of Dar es Salaam Virginia Theological Seminary alumni