by KAREN LAGRANGE COX, Photos by LARRY COX
The Episcopal Church of the Ascension (ECA), situated on Johnston Street in Lafayette, Louisiana, welcomed Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon, as a special guest preacher on Sunday, April 28, 2024.
Idowu-Fearon, who previously served as the Secretary-General of the Anglican Communion, spoke to congregation members between church services about the significance of loving the church and engaging in dialogue with others to better understand our differences.
On Monday, Idowu-Fearon visited two ECA schools, Ascension Episcopal Upper School (AES) in Youngsville and Ascension Episcopal Elementary School on Johnston Street in Lafayette, and spoke to the students at both locations. His message to the Upper School students was, “We are all children of God; our differences should not separate us.”
The Reverend Dr. Jordan Hylden, Vice Rector of ECA, and The Reverend Jacob Schlossberg, the AES Upper School Chaplain and Associate Priest for the ECA Youth Ministry, were with Idowu-Fearon when he spoke to the students.
According to Hylden, Idowu-Fearon “is a man of deep faith, immense experience, great learning, and a joyful and hopeful spirit that touches everyone he meets”.
The Anglican Communion has between 85 and 90 million members, and Idowu-Fearon is a globally recognized figure for his expertise in Christian-Muslim relationships.
Idowu-Fearon has a Ph.D. in sociology, with advanced degrees in Arabic, theology, and Christian-Muslim relations.
Growing up in Nigeria, Idowu-Fearon knew even when he was young that he was called to be a bridge-builder and a witness for Christ.
While in the military, Idowu-Fearon received a sympathetic discharge to pursue ministry.
In 1971, Idowu-Fearon was ordained into the priesthood. He became a bishop in 1990 and served as Bishop of Sokoto, Warden at St Francis of Assisi Theological College in Wusasa, and Provost of St. Michael’s Cathedral in Kaduna, all in Nigeria. Between 1998 and 2015, Idowu-Fearon served as Bishop of Kaduna in the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) and Director of the Kaduna Study Centre.
Idowu-Fearon retired as the Secretary-General of the Anglican Communion at the end of August 2022, after his seven-year term had expired.
He and his wife Comfort moved from London, England, to Houston, Texas, where the seventy-five-year-old is now the Bishop in Residence at St. John the Divine.
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The Anglican Communion is a family of forty-two autonomous and independent yet interdependent national, pan-national, and regional churches in communion with the see of Canterbury. [source] The Episcopal Church is the American branch of the world Anglican Communion.
