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| National |
| Anglicans reject bishop-elect |
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by
Felix Malamula, 02 December 2005
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07:11:04
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The Anglican Church of Central Africa has rejected the confirmation of Nicholas Paul Henderson, bishop-elect for Lake Malawi Diocese.
According to a statement from the church, Henderson has been rejected by a court of confirmation sitting at the St. Peter’s Church in Lilongwe because of lack of sound faith.
“The court declined to confirm Reverend Nicholas Henderson as Bishop of Lake Malawi on the grounds that pursuant to Canon 7 (4) of the church of the Province of Africa, Reverend Nicholas Henderson’s active association as the General Secretary of the Modern Church Peoples Union made him unsuitable for confirmation because this actively demonstrated that he was not of sound faith,” reads the document.
Leader of the church in Central Africa Archbishop Bernard Malango said Henderson has been rejected because of his links with the Modern Church Peoples Union (MCU) which supports gay movements in the church.
“Quite a number of people were doubting if Reverend Henderson is a man of sound faith and we have found that he is not, according to research by the Anglican Church,” said Malango.
Malango said the Church has already communicated to Henderson about the rejection.
“I already informed him yesterday about his rejection and he is in a state of shock,” disclosed Malango.
He said the Church has already identified another bishop to take charge of the affairs of the diocese but did not disclose his name.
“I will not release the name of the new bishop right now because if I do so, the story will be all over and even on the Internet which is not good,” said Malango.
But sources close to the church said Thursday the authorities have settled for retired Bishop Leonard Mwenda of the Diocese of Lusaka.
Malango said the new bishop would be looking after the diocese for a year or two until a replacement is found.
“The new bishop will be here in the first or second week of January just to handle the current situation and bring reconciliation among the Christians because the church is divided right now,” said Malango.
The court of confirmation sat following a petition that was presented by three Christians from the diocese, Sebastian Ndelemani, Michael Simon and Reverend Geoffrey Mchinga who presented eight grounds for objecting the confirmation of Henderson.
Speaking from Nkhotakota Thursday, Simon said he and his friends are happy that Henderson has been rejected.
“We are happy with the decision because we don’t want our diocese to be associated with a bishop with questionable integrity,” he said.
The petitioners were represented by lawyer Steve Kafumba from the Ombudsman Office, Reverends Rodney Hunter and Dennis Kayamba who was later removed after it transpired during the hearing that he was on suspension as a priest.
Henderson, who was not present during the sitting of the court, was elected on July 29 and would have been consecrated on October 29 if the court had confirmed him as bishop on September 3 which was the original date set for his confirmation.
The court of confirmation comprised bishops from Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana.
The Anglican Church in Malawi has close to two million followers in four dioceses — Lower Shire under Bishop James Tengatenga, Upper Shire headed by Malango, Northern Malawi of Christopher Boyle and Lake Malawi which Henderson was supposed to head.
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