In the early 1990s, the church in Malawi mounted concerted and public opposition to the regime of Hastings Banda. The Catholic bishops issued a Lenten pastoral letter, which ignited the processs that led to a democratic election. This record of the story through the 1960s onwards is about a church discovering its mandate, and struggling to live with it. The record is a chronicle of events and developments before and after the publication of the bishops' Lenten letter, It also contains the literal text, in part or in full, of important statements and docucments issued by the parties concerned.