Speaking of Moderators…

In the Blantyre Synod of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian there has been a developing situation where the Moderator of the Synod, with the deputy general secretary, held a press conference where they spoke out against a pastoral letter by the local Catholic bishops.  They claimed to be speaking for the church but an emergency special Synod meeting resulted in 1) a statement agreeing with the bishop’s letter, 2) an apology to the bishops, and 3) a committee to conduct an investigation.  Check out my previous post on the subject for a more detailed version.

The investigating committee has now reported and the giant headline on the front of the print edition of the newspaper The Nation says “SHAKE-UP AT BT CCAP SYNOD.”  The headline for the on-line story is slightly more descriptive with “Heads Roll At BT CCAP Synod.”  The lede has the details:

Heads have rolled at the Blantyre CCAP Synod where moderator Reverend
Reynold Mangisa and deputy general secretary Reverend Austin Chimenya
have been forced to step down.

Yesterday’s Synod meeting, where the committee reported, was closed so only commissioners were present. There is no report yet of a statement from the Synod office. The newspaper had a source at the meeting who added a few details.  The General Secretary, Rev. MacDonald Kadawati was also under investigation and was asked not to run for a new term when his current term concludes in August 2011.  This was apparently not related to this matter but a generally poor working relationship with his colleagues.  The source made no mention of any action regarding the fourth officer, deputy moderator Rev. Mercy Chilapula, who has never been included in any of the reporting of this issue.

The paper contacted Rev. Mangisa last night and he confirmed that he had stepped down and stated he did not regret making the initial statement.  (I would note that this appears to differs from his stance following the first emergency meeting where he signed the apology statement.)  The article also quotes him to say that the decision of the investigating committee was a foregone conclusion because “The composition of the committee and the method used were not right.
It’s like an opinion had already been formed.”  He did say that he appreciated that the committee cleared up some misconceptions.

Getting to the polity matter of who speaks for the Synod, the article says “The insider said the probe faulted the two for speaking without
authority and for claiming they never called for the press conference in
question.”

I will leave it at that for now.  We will see what other details come out about the meeting and if an official statement is released by the Synod.