Last year, the energetic and saintly Roman Catholic bishop of Isiola diocese, in Northern Kenya, was bludgeoned and shot to death outside his compound after nearly forty years there. It was believed at first that he was a martyr to the cause of peace, and had been killed by representatives of some tribes disgruntled with his mediation efforts; but it later emerged that the killers had been hired by one of his own priests, who resented the introduction of stricter accounting controls on charitable funds from Europe which would make it less easy to feed his concubine and children.
The thing that caught my eye about this story was the price paid to the murderers: $150. A friend who knows Africa tells me that this is a gigantic fortune in those parts, and so perhaps it is. On the other hand, it is small beer to Western congregations, and if $150 is also the going rate for murdering Anglican bishops in Africa, there might be some interesting developments before the next Lambeth Conference. I like to think of the appeal as the collection is taken in Putney: “If we can raise £10,000 for our partner diocese, they can have a new school. But for only 150 dollars, they can have a new bishop …”