Church of the Word
NICHOLAS HENDERSON REJECTED AS BISHOP

Central African Bishops Won't Confirm English Priest's Election
12/02/2005

The bishops of the Anglican Province of Central Africa have refused to confirm the election of an English priest as Bishop of Lake Malawi, citing doctrinal concerns over the bishop-elect’s “orthodoxy.”

A trial court of bishops, convened to review charges proffered against the Rev. Nicholas Henderson, vicar of the west London parishes of St. Martin’s, Acton West, and All Saints’, Ealing Common, released a statement Dec. 2 saying: “The court declined to confirm Reverend Nicholas Henderson as bishop of the Lake Malawi diocese” due to his “active association as general secretary of the Modern Church People’s Union (MCU).”

Archbishop Bernard Malango, Primate of Central Africa, told the BBC’s “Focus on Africa” program Fr. Henderson “has actively demonstrated that he was not of sound faith. That’s what the Court of Confirmation decided.” The MCU’s support for a change in church teaching on the morality of homosexual behavior was problematic, Archbishop Malango said, as the Church in Africa did not approve of same-sex unions.

Fr. Henderson was elected bishop July 29 at the diocesan synod in Lilongwe to succeed Bishop Peter Nyanja, who died in March. Objections to the election were lodged by lay members of the diocese, charging the electoral commission “twisted the formalities” to ensure his election.

Under the provincial canons, communicants in good standing may bring objections within 28 days of the election. Permissible objections to the election of a bishop under Chapter 7 of the Central African canons are that the bishop is not of age, of competent learning, of sound faith, or that the electoral process did not conform to law.

Questions were later raised over Fr. Henderson’s work with the MCU and his published writings. In a 2002 letter to the Times of London, Fr. Henderson questioned the virgin birth and objected to doctrinal “litmus tests” for the clergy.

On Aug. 24, Archbishop Malango wrote to Fr. Henderson, asking the London vicar to “assure me that your conduct conforms to the historic teaching of the church” on human sexuality and that “you are not in, nor have you been in, a sexual relationship outside marriage.”

Archbishop Malango also asked Fr Henderson to affirm the Articles of Religion and creeds “without equivocation” as they are the “standard of ministry and theology which is the practice and the norm of this Province.”

Fr. Henderson responded that he was chaste in his private life and gave assurances of his conformance to the Church’s formularies, and was supported in these statements by his bishop, the Rt. Rev. Pete Broadbent, Bishop of Willesden. The trial court declined, however, to affirm Fr. Henderson’s election on the sole grounds of “sound faith” under Chapter 7 of the Central African canons.

This article comes from The Living Church
http://www.livingchurch.org/

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