President Ramkalawan congratulates Anglican priests on achieving doctorate degrees |26 December 2020

(L to r) Rev. Fred, Bishop Wong, President Ramkalawan, VP Afif and Rev. Kalle (Photo: Jude Morel)

Most Reverend Doctor Archbishop of the Indian Ocean province James Wong, Dean of the St Paul’s Cathedral Reverend Doctor Daniel Kalle and Reverend Doctor Simon Fred of the St Matthew, Praslin parish met with President Wavel Ramkalawan at State House on Thursday morning. Also present was Vice-President Ahmed Afif.

The three Anglican priests made history for Seychelles and the Anglican Diocese for becoming the first to receive their doctorate in the ministry from the ACTS Academy of Higher learning in Bangalore, India, following a virtual graduation held at St Paul’s Cathedral on December 19, 2020.

President Ramkalawan formally congratulated them on their success and expressed how they have made Seychelles and the Anglican Diocese proud.

During the meeting, the head of the state and the three Anglican priests discussed and shared various aspects of their respective researches and how they can be further applied in order to make a difference in the country.

“The president has well appreciated our theses and their recommendations and he wants copies so that he could focus more on them. So we have decided for further discussions to see how these recommendations could be implemented,” Archbishop Wong said.

To attain their doctorate as Doctors of Ministry, the three undertook the four-year doctorate course along with several other priests in the Indian Ocean region, notably from Mauritius and Madagascar. The aim of the doctorate programme is to allow for capacity building and encourage further theological studies among priests. It was initiated by former Archbishop of the Anglican Indian Ocean province, Ian Ernest.

For the ACTS course each participant had to work on a thesis and research on matters of importance to their dioceses and the communities they serve. Archbishop Wong’s thesis focused on the issue of broken families or families in crisis in the Seychelles, Reverend Kalle had his thesis on the practice of the occult among the youths in Seychelles and for Reverend Fred it was on the history of mission work in general in the country.

Patrick Joubert