Father Clement Chimwala dies

Death has been announced of Reverend Father Clement Chimwala, who was the parish priest for St. James Catholic in Chilomoni in the Archdiocese of Blantyre.

According to a statement signed by Reverend Father Henry Saindi, general secretary for the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM), the late Chimwala collapsed on the night of Sunday, January 8 and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.

The statement said: “He was born on May 23 1966 at Lundu Village, Traditional Authority Mabuka, Mulanje, and went to Pius XII Minor Seminary in Chiradzulu before joining Kachebere Major Seminary in Mchinji where he studied philosophy. He later joined St. Peter’s Senior Major Seminary in Zomba where he studied theology.

Chimwala was ordained a priest by the late Archbishop James Chiona on July 13 1996 at Limbe Cathedral.

During his priesthood, Fr Chimwala served at Mthawira Parish from 1996 to 1998, then took up teaching at Pius XII Seminary until 2001.

Between 2001 and 2005 he was in Rome where he studied for a masters in church history.

From 2005 to 2014, he served as a lecturer, and then acting rector at St. Peter’s Seminary. He moved to the Archbishop’s office in 2012 where he served as secretary and financial administrator before being assigned to St James Parish where he served until his death.

According to a separate statement from Archdiocese’s communications department signed by Fr Frank Mwinganyama, Chimwala also served as consulter of the Archbishop.

According to a funeral programme, the body of Fr Chimwala will be taken from the College of Medicine (CoM) at 3.30pm today to Limbe Cathedral where a mass and vigil prayers will be held from 5pm.  Burial, which takes place tomorrow at Limbe Cathedral Cemetery, will be preceded by a requiem mass starting at 10am. n