the archbishop reminded his church it prays for avocados. it still would not pray for same-sex couples, by seven votes.

via the Cape Argus and MambaOnline, with 2024 background from The Citizen.

"We pray for trees, we pray for cars, we pray for avocados," Archbishop Thabo Makgoba told his church this week, per the Cape Argus. The church heard him out, and then declined to add same-sex couples to the list.

At the Anglican Church of Southern Africa's 38th Provincial Synod in Benoni, which ran Sept. 20 to 23, a motion from the Diocese of False Bay to allow prayers for members in committed same-sex unions lost 78 to 71, with 10 abstentions. A second motion, from the Diocese of Johannesburg, to develop a separate liturgy for LGBTQIA+ pastoral care, lost 98 to 61. Both counts match in the Argus and MambaOnline.

It was Makgoba's final synod as archbishop, and he opened it calling for "greater inclusion in the church." This is his second loss on the question. In 2024 he told the synod that young people could not understand "why we can bless their dogs, cats, and guinea pigs," and yet "not their LGBTQI friends in committed relationships," The Citizen reported at the time, and that synod voted the proposals down too. Since then he has moved from pets to produce. Seven votes is a lot closer than it used to be, and the next archbishop gets to count them.

For a sense of how the rest of the church is handling this, the Jesuits hosted ten Italian bishops talking about how to treat us earlier this month.