Bishop Kalilombe RIP

Those were the days when I was busy organising events for the Cheltenham RC Deanery: one such took place on Whit weekend 1984 at what was then Charlton Park Convent. We had a beautiful day for it, and a cake to match, in celebration of the Church's birthday.

Our special guest was Bishop Patrick Kalilombe, living here in exile from his native Malawi. The first Malawian White Father and first Malawian-born Bishop of Lilongwe, he proposed the idea of a self-ministering, self-reliant, self-propagating church in the spirit of Vatican II. All of which President Hastings Banda saw as sufficient threat for him to expel Bishop Pat from Malawi. Only in 1996 was he able to return.

Meanwhile, amongst other posts, he worked in the Mission Department at Selly Oak Colleges, and for one lovely afternoon in Cheltenham we had the benefit of his extremely fresh-sounding teaching.

Much of the above background information comes from an item in this week's Tablet, which reports the sad news of Bishop Pat's death on 24th September aged 79.