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Bishops for Malawi

by
05 August 2009

by Pat Ashworth

TWO BISHOPS were elected on Saturday to fill the remaining vacant sees in Malawi.The Archdeacon of Lilongwe, the Ven. Francis Kaulanda, is to be the Bishop of Lake Malawi, and the Revd Leslie Mtekateka of St Timothy’s, Chitipa, is to be the Bishop of Northern Malawi.

Contention surrounded both elections. In Northern Malawi, the only other nominee had been the Very Revd Scott Wilson, whose American diocese has aligned with the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), and who withdrew his candidacy (News, 10 July).

Candidates from previous elec­tions were disallowed, thus ruling out the Lake Malawi candidacy of the Revd Dr Nicholas Henderson, who was elected by a large majority in 2005 but was turned down by a court of confirmation pre­sided over by the former Archbishop of Central Africa, the Most Revd Bernard Malango.

Dr Henderson, who had worked in Lake Malawi for many years, was deemed to be “of unsound faith” because of his membership of the Modern Churchpeople’s Union (MCU). The Revd Jonathan Clat­worthy, the MCU’s general secretary, described the claim as “absurd” in an open letter published last week, in which he set out the MCU’s roots and ethos.

He accused the “sectarian ‘con­servative’ lobby” of misusing the Bible “by reading its own obsessions” into it. He went on: “This lobby has become increasingly schismatic and has sought to drag African provinces out of communion with Canterbury.”

It was reported on Wednesday that Dr Henderson has written an open letter to the Lake Malawi diocese.

He says of the election of Archdeacon Lilongwe: "Now, for the good of the Diocese of Lake Malawi and for the sake of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that it is time to support Francis Kaulanda and ensure that as far as possible the diocese is well-managed, the people are respected and the Gospel is preached."

He also thanks the people of the diocese for their "courageous stand for justice" in the period after the 2005 decision.

With a new bishop recently elected in Upper Shire, the House is now complete, and the vacant arch­bishopric of Central Africa can be filled from among the existing bishops.

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