12 Aug 2007

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION reports that:

The Diocesan Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Lake Malawi met on Sunday 12th August, in All Saints Cathedral, Nkhotakota with the new Dean of the Province of Central Africa, Bishop Trevor Mwamba of Botswana presiding. Also present were: the Diocesan Chancellor Enoch Chibwana, the Vicar General of the Diocese of North Malawi, the Rev’d Canon Chifisi and the Vicar General of Lake Malawi, the Rev’d Canon Mkoko. The Synod was attended by parish and clergy representatives from all four Archdeaconaries.

The meeting had been called as a synodical and formal means of procedure following the recent open meeting held on 23rd June. At that meeting Bishop Trevor Mwamba, in his capacity as Dean of the Province, met with representatives of the Diocese of Lake Malawi, in Lilongwe, to discuss a way forward to remedy the impasse over the failure, in November 2005, of the Provincial Court of Confirmation to endorse the elected Bishop, the Rev’d Nicholas Henderson.

Before the Synod worship took place in a crowded Cathedral. The Synod was subsequently held in the Cathedral itself with over two hundred people present. Members voted by a substantial majority to pass the matter of the failure of the Court of Confirmation to the Central African Provincial Court for reconsideration. This process constitutes a legal appeal as the Provincial Court is not the same body as the original Court of Confirmation. It has long been noted in the Diocese that the original grounds for refusing the Rev’d Nicholas Henderson appear spurious and uncanonical; lack of remedy to this has caused considerable unrest.

The Synod has brought nearer a resolution to this case and it is generally agreed that under the new leadership and wise direction of Bishop Trevor Mwamba at last a satisfactory conclusion to the long-running saga is possible.