The global faith community is mourning the loss of spiritual leader and social activist Bishop Cornal Garnett Henning Sr. Bishop Henning, who served as the 112th bishop of the AME Church, passed away on Tuesday, May 15.
“He was an advocate for social justice and human rights wherever he served,” Bishop Clement W. Fugh, presiding prelate of the AME Church’s 5th Episcopal District, told the Los Angeles Sentinel.
Through his ministry St. Louis was blessed by Bishop Henning’s global footprint and legacy of community building and activism. He spent six years as pastor of St. Peter AME Church in St. Louis (1968-1972), where the membership increased by more than 650 members under his leadership.
After eight years as pastor of Ward AME Church in Los Angeles, Bishop Henning returned to St. Louis to lead St. Paul AME Church – where he served from 1980-1992. He continued the transformational social activism that made him a beloved and powerful faith and community leader in Los Angeles.
Political activist
Bishop Henning was a founding member of the St. Louis Clergy Coalition and chairperson of its Political Action Committee.
“The Clergy Coalition has made great inroads for public policy and to correct the wrongs against people of color,” Rev. Spencer Lamar Booker, pastor of St. Paul AME Church, said. “With the impactful leadership of Bishop C. Garnett Henning, I’m blessed to walk in his footsteps here at St. Paul AME Church. He left a legacy here at St. Paul as well as in St. Louis.”
Bishop Henning also organized the St. Louis Superintendent-Clergy Committee to assist in the development of a positive relationship between the St. Louis Public Schools administration, the Board of Education and the black community, seeking to keep the lines of communication open and constructive.
Rev. Booker said Bishop Henning “worked with the superintendent of schools in order to bridge the gap to assure that our children were getting a quality education.”
St. Paul Saturdays cofounder
Decades ago at St. Paul AME, Bishop Henning co-founded St. Paul Saturdays with Dr. William Harrison of St. Louis Community College. Drugs and violence were taking a toll on young males in the community.
“The question was raised, ‘What are we going to do about our boys?’” Bishop Henning said as he reflected on the program’s origins at the 25th anniversary celebration of St. Paul Saturdays back in 2010. “Dr. Harrison said, ‘If we could just get them together and talk about the things that will help them grow into manhood, that would be a good thing.’”
The conversation they held in the basement of St. Paul AME Church evolved into weekly meetings with young boys and that blossomed into St. Paul Saturdays, a mentoring ministry that continues to provide positive experiences for black youth that encourage their development into strong black men.
“When these young men walked up here and represented themselves and represented their future their way, it almost brought tears to my eyes,” Bishop Henning said.
Among other accolades the program has earned since its inception, St. Paul Saturdays boasts a 100 percent high school graduation rate among the hundreds of young men it has served.
“How marvelous it is to have this kind of institution to survive and thrive,” Bishop Henning said. “The need for St. Paul Saturdays is greater today than it’s ever been.”
That’s still true, and young boys continue to meet at the church every Saturday morning.
“Here 35 years later, St. Paul Saturdays is still a vibrant program,” Rev. Booker said. “And the very mentees that Dr. Harrison and Bishop Garnett Henning mentored are now the mentors in charge of that program today.”
Global education supporter
Henning left St. Louis in 1992 upon his election as the 112th Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He was then assigned to the14th Episcopal District – West Africa, where he served four years. While there he established the C. Garnett Henning, Jr. Memorial High School, named in memory of his deceased son and located in Danane, Cote D’Ivoire. In 1996, he founded AME University in Monrovia, Liberia. The university currently has an estimated enrollment of 4000 students and is the second largest university in the country. He also built Bethel AME. Church in Accra, Ghana.
In 1996 Bishop Henning was assigned to the 19th Episcopal District – South Africa, where he served until 2000. In 1998, he renovated the R. R. Wright School of Theology in Evaton, South Africa, purchased an Episcopal residence appraised at $700,000, and worked with Bishop Donald G. K. Ming and Bishop Harold Senatle to reopen Wilberforce Institute, which had been closed during the apartheid era.
“He was an outstanding preacher, an outstanding leader and an outstanding social activist,” Bishop T. Larry Kirkland, former head of the AME’s Fifth District (which includes Missouri), told the Los Angeles Sentinel. “People in the U.S. and Africa were moved and lifted by his kind, warm spirit.”
Church restoration
He returned to the United States to lead the Eighth Episcopal District, which is comprised of Mississippi and Louisiana. Five years into his tenure, Hurricane Katrina – the worst natural disaster in U.S. history – devastated the churches under his umbrella of leadership.
Bishop Henning was asked by the church to administer more than three million dollars raised by the AME Church for the restoration of damaged churches. At the same time, Bishop Henning was appointed to the National Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund by former President Bill Clinton. With the appointment came the responsibility of directing the distribution of more than $70 million to religious institutions in the region. Under Bishop Henning’s leadership, 49 of 51 churches damaged by Katrina were restored.
Early life and education
Bishop Henning was born in Memphis, Tennessee and educated in the public schools of Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. He completed his undergraduate studies at Wilberforce University, a Master of Divinity from Payne Theological Seminary, and course work for the Doctorate of Ministry at Eden Theological Seminary in Webster Groves. Bishop Henning was also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
He is survived by his wife, Ernestine Henning; his daughter Dr. Carma Love, who resides in California; two grandchildren, Jahbrielle Henning-Rayford and Massiah Garnett Henning; sisters The Right Reverend E. Anne Henning Byfield (the 135th elected and consecrated bishop of the AME Church), retired Supervisor Yvonne Henning Parks and brother Dr. Herman W. Henning Jr. His daughter Helaine and son Garnett Jr. preceded him in death.
Two Celebration of Life services took place in Los Angeles earlier this week, one at Ward AME Church and at First AME Church, according to the AME Church website. The final funeral service takes place on Saturday, May 26 in Memphis Tennessee at St. Andrew AME Church, pastored by Rev. Byron Moore. The officiant is Bishop Jeffrey N. Leath, presiding bishop, 13th Episcopal District and the eulogist is Bishop McKinley Young, presiding bishop, 3rd District, Episcopal classmate and senior bishop.
The Los Angeles Sentinel contributed to this report.
