An English vicar has become an unlikely African rebel after church authorities blocked his appointment as a bishop in Malawi. Supporters of the Reverend Nicholas Henderson this week carried him shoulder-high and blockaded the offices of Archbishop Bernard Malango, head of the diocese of Central Africa, because he wanted to stop the vicar’s move from London.
The Anglican Province of Central Africa’s Confirmation Court, which comprises Malawi, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, said Henderson was deemed ”not of sound faith” because of his liberal views on gay rights. The archbishop’s office named a retired Zambian prelate, James Mwenda, as acting bishop.
Anglican leaders in Africa have condemned their counterparts in Europe and North America for accepting gay rights, a conservatism believed to be widely shared by ordinary Africans.
However, Gladys Nkanthama, a church elder and secretary of the Mothers’ Union in one of the parishes in the diocese of Lake Malawi, told The Associated Press: ”We chose him, we voted for him; we are ready for Henderson to be our bishop.”
The vicar, popular in Malawi for his development work during a previous posting, was elected by the diocese in July 2005.
Henderson said suggestions that he was gay were ”unfortunate” and that the controversy stemmed from personal differences.
”The difficulties are not between me and the church elders; it’s between me primarily and the archbishop.” — Guardian Unlimited Â