Because the confirmation process in the Province of Central Africa is taken very seriously, it is important that you fully and comprehensively address questions that have emerged. While it is an awkward situation, securing the necessary confirmation will require that you address some matters of theology and concerns about your personal life. Because the teaching of the church centers so much on the person of the one who holds the office of Bishop, it is entirely appropriate for those who would work with you and those who would follow you to know the facts.

Here are some critical issues that have already surfaced:-

1. Your writing as the General Secretary of the Modern Church People's Union, you made it clear that you do not believe that the doctrine of the Virgin Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ is an essential doctrine, comparing it to the debate concerning creation of Darwinism. Do you believe that Our Lord Jesus Christ was conceived supernaturally by God the Holy Spirit, with no human father's conception, causing the Virgin Mary to bear Jesus?

2. The Church of the Province of Central Africa is a full constituent member of the Anglican Communion. Those who serve in ordained ministry are required to affirm their commitment to historic Anglican formularies. Your writing in a letter to the Times (August 9, 2002) stated: and I quote

"Historical formulations such as the Nicene Creed or the Thirty-Nine Articles are attempts at regularizing our common faith for our common good. Inevitably, they suffer from being their own time. We must be careful not to let them lose their point and become context less symbols of conformity, ways of playing games about being "more old-fashioned than thou".

Most people's faith is robust enough to point them to the real issues of the day. Third World debt, globalization, climate change and the famine in Africa. If we spend more time asking what God is calling us to do about these, we will be doing what the authors of the Bible did and what the best church leaders have always done and what if we do it well, we will end up expressing our relationship with God in new ways, as they did.

The documents such as the Nicene Creed and the Thirty-Nine Articles are not simply theological photographs snapped at a moment in history; they are foundation stones which must be affirmed. Are you willing to state clearly and without equivocation that you fully accept, believe and practice the faith described in the classic Anglican formularies including the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, the Thirty-Nine Articles, the Creeds, and the Ordinal? To be clear, I am not asking if you affirm that they are part of our history. You should know that they represent a standard of ministry and theology which is the practice and the norm of this province. If you were to come here with a different faith, it would be not only difficult; it would be the cause of disastrous conflict in the diocese and the Province. Are you able to affirm and commit to the faith as described in them without exception".

It has been reported that you currently live with (or have in the past lived with) a male "lodger". Because of reports of your advocacy of the gay and lesbian movement I am constrained to ask a very awkward question. Are you prepared to assure me and the members and leaders of the church in this province that your conduct conforms to the historic teaching of the church that sexual intimacy is restricted to be within the marriage of one man and one woman, intended as a lifelong union, and that you are not in (nor have you been in) a sexual relationship outside marriage? Is there anything I should know that would make my work difficult if you took up this position?

I know that these are awkward questions to ask and that this situation is painful for you. I can only assure you that the failure to fully address them would be a cause of greater pain. Please understand my love for you, for this Province and for the faith that God has revealed to us through the Scriptures and His Son, Jesus Christ.

May God richly bless you. I will look forward to hearing from you.

Yours in Christ

Dr Bernard Amos Malango
ARCHBISHOP & PRIMATE
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