Anglican Church cancels key event over squabbles
The Anglican Council of Malawi (ACM) has cancelled the church’s annual Magomero Celebration due to squabbles that have rocked the Anglican Diocese of Upper Shire (Adus).
The celebration, which takes place during the first week of October at Magomero in Chiradzulu to commemorate the first Anglican Church in the country, was initially scheduled for Saturday October 5 but was cancelled at the eleventh hour due to a protest that some church members held to force Adus Bishop Brighton Malasa to resign for alleged abuse of office.
A communication we have seen addressed to the country’s four Anglican dioceses indicates that the commemoration was cancelled due to the stalemate in the hosting diocese where some members held a three-day vigil which ended yesterday at the diocesan headquarters at Malosa in Zomba.
Reads the communication in part: “Let it be known that this year’s Magomero Celebrations have been cancelled because of the situation in Upper Shire, the host diocese. Please inform all clergy and the faithful under your care. Let’s continue our prayers for peace in Adus.”
ACM secretary general Edward Chisala in an interview yesterday confirmed the postponement of the church’s annual celebration which has been shifted to a later date.
However, he claimed that the annual celebration’s postponement had nothing to do with the wrangles in the host diocese.
Said Chisala: “Basically, there have been some unforeseen circumstances which we cannot disclose at the moment to the press until the issues are resolved. We discussed internally and thought that it was proper just to cancel the event and see if we can do it at a later date.”
He said the Magomero Celebration is crucial to the church as it celebrates lives of early missionaries that risked their lives to bring the word of God in the country.
Effort to speak to Malasa proved futile as his phones were not answered on several attempts.
Meanwhile, the three-day vigil at Adus headquarters ended on Sunday afternoon.
