The St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Southern Malawi will this year hold the delayed centenary celebrations from 19 to 21 May 2023.
The centenary celebrations were supposed to be held last year but due to some foreseeable events they have been pushed to this year.
The event will mark 100 years since St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral Church was consecrated in Blantyre on 22 May 1922.
Chairman of the Centenary Celebrations Committee Chifwayi Chirambo said in an interview that all preparations for the event are going on smoothly and they expect to hold a ‘big and memorable event’.
“We will have three days of celebrations starting on Friday 19 May, 2023, where we will have a documentary on the history of the church before embarking on a street parade in Blantyre the following day. In keeping with our theme from Ephesians 2:8, Saved by grace, to witness, we will also donate assorted items to an orphanage within our catchment area on the same day in order to assist them in mitigating the effects of Cyclone Freddy from which we are all still recovering. We will then have the main centenary celebration service in the Cathedral church on Sunday 21 May 2023,” said Chirambo.
He said they have invited the Honourable Chief Justice, Justice Rezine Mzikamanda, to be the Guest of Honour at the main event on Sunday.
“During the main event on Sunday, we are also going to launch a book on the history of the Cathedral Church and the Anglican Church in Malawi in general which has been written by Mr. Tawanda Madovi who is a congregant at St Paul’s Cathedral and a historian of the Anglican Church,” explained Chirambo.
He also said different guilds of the Church at the Cathedral will showcase different activities during the three-day celebrations. The popular Ndirande Anglican Voices, as well as different choirs from St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral Church will also perform at the event, according to Chirambo.
“In commemorating this event, we have produced a centenary celebration cloth which is being sold at K7,000 per two metres in most Anglican churches in the diocese because we want all coming to the Sunday centenary celebration service to be in this colour, we want to make this event colourful,” said Chirambo.
The Chairman also said Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Southern Malawi Bishop Alinafe Kalemba and fellow Anglican Bishops in the other dioceses, Deans of the Anglican Cathedrals and members of the clergy and congregation from other Anglican churches in the country are expected to attend the celebrations.
Chirambo also said they are fundraising through contributions and donations from well-wishers to make the event outstanding.
