Anglican Church of South America

The Anglican Church of South America (Spanish: Iglesia

Anglican Church of South
Anglicana de Sudamérica) is the ecclesiastical province of the
Anglican Communion that covers six dioceses in the countries of America
Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.

Formed in 1981, the province has 35,000 members. The vast

majority of its members (30,000) live in Argentina with its
members in the rest of South America being thinly spread. It is one
of the smaller provinces in the Anglican Communion in terms of
members, although one of the largest in geographical extent.[2]

The province was known as "The Province of the Southern Cone

of America" from its formation in 1981 until September 2014,
when it formally changed its name to "The Anglican Church of
South America".[3]

The province also included Chile, until the inception of the new
Anglican Church of Chile as an autonomous province of the
Anglican Communion, on 4 November 2018. Classification Protestant
Orientation Anglican
History Scripture Holy Bible
Theology Anglican doctrine
During the 19th century, British immigrants to South America
Polity Episcopal
brought Anglicanism with them.[4] In Britain, a voluntary Anglican
society was formed in 1844[5] to evangelize the indigenous Primate Nick Drayson[1]
peoples of Tierra del Fuego. This later became the South American Associations Anglican
Mission Society (SAMS) and extended its activities to the Communion,
Araucanian regions of Chile and the Chaco. It still has an GAFCON, Global
important place in the life of the church.[n 1][5] South
The first diocese was established in 1869 as the Diocese of the Territory Argentina, Bolivia,
Falkland Islands and the rest of South America, excepting British Paraguay, Peru,
Guiana. The see of the bishop was in Buenos Aires. [6][n 2] Despite and Uruguay
its title, the diocese's effective territory was restricted to the Congregations 300
Southern Cone plus Peru and Bolivia. By contrast,
Anglican/Episcopal congregations in Brazil and the more northern Members c. 35,000
Spanish-speaking countries were effectively under the wing of the
Episcopal Church of the USA.[7] As the Anglican Church and its mission grew in South America, new
dioceses were created from that larger one. Missionary bishops were appointed to smaller dioceses.

Until 1974, these missionary dioceses were under the metropolitical oversight of the Archbishop of
Canterbury. For the next seven years, they were administered by an ad hoc council known by the acronym
CASA (Consejo Anglicano de Sud América),[8] which also had Brazilian members.
In 1981, the five dioceses of Argentina (at the time including Uruguay,
which became an independent diocese only in 1988,[9]) Northern
Argentina, Peru and Bolivia (separated into two dioceses subsequent
to 1988), Chile, and Paraguay came together to form the Province of
the Southern Cone.

Bishop David Leake was the first South American-born primate of the
Anglican Church of the Southern Cone, while being Bishop of
Argentina. In November 2010, at a provincial synod held in
Argentina, Bishop Tito Zavala, Diocesan Bishop of Chile, was elected
primate. He was the second South American-born primate of the
province, and served for six years.

In November 2016, at the provincial synod in Santiago, Chile, Bishop

Gregory Venables, was re-elected primate of the Province of South
America. He had previously served from 2001 to 2010.

In early 2018 the Diocese of Chile split into four dioceses, and in Anglican Cathedral of St. John
November that year those dioceses were removed from the Anglican the Baptist, in Buenos Aires
Church of South America and formed into an autonomous province
named the Anglican Church of Chile, with Tito Zavala as its first
primate.

Doctrine
The province is distinguished by a conservative interpretation of Biblical texts and church practice while
some dioceses are more liberal.

Ordination of women

The province has been outspoken in its opposition to the ordination of women to the priesthood, generally
appealing to scriptural issues of headship as the basis for such opposition. The Diocese of Uruguay, which
has historically been more liberal than other parts of the province, made a formal request in 2011 to be
allowed to admit women to the priesthood. This request was received by the provincial synod meeting held
in Asunción, Paraguay, in November 2011, and was rejected.[10] However, in 2015 Bolivia became the
first diocese in the province to ordain women as priests, ordaining the Rev. Tammy Smith-Firestone.[11]
Later that year Rev. Susana Lopez Lerena, the Rev. Cynthia Myers Dickin and the Rev. Audrey Taylor
Gonzalez became the first women Anglican priests ordained in the Diocese of Uruguay.[12]

Human sexuality
The Anglican Church of South America is a part of GAFCON, a conservative coalition of Anglican
provinces opposing non-celibate homosexuality and same-sex marriage.[13] Some representatives in the
Diocese of Uruguay have supported gay and lesbian rights.[14]

Dioceses

Diócesis de Argentina (Diocese of Argentina)

Diocesan bishop — Brian Williams, 2020–
Previous bishops: Edward Francis Every, 1910–1937; John Weller, 1937–1946; Daniel Ivor
Evans, 1946–1962; Cyril Tucker, 1963–1975; Richard Cutts, 1975–1988; David Leake,
1989–2001; Gregory Venables, 2002–2020;

Diócesis de Argentina Norte (Diocese of Northern Argentina)

Founded 1969.[15]

Diocesan bishop — Nicholas James Quested Drayson, 2001–

Suffragan bishop — Mateo Alto
Suffragan bishop — Cristiano Rojas
Previous bishops: Bill Flagg, 1969–1973; Patrick Harris, 1973–1979; David Leake, 1979–
1989; Maurice Sinclair, 1990–2001

Diócesis de Bolivia (Diocese of Bolivia)

Inaugurated as a diocese in 1995. Missionaries began their work in the early 1980s.[15]

Diocesan bishop — Walter Toro, 2022–

Previous bishops: Gregory James Venables, 1995–2001, Frank Lyons, 2001–2012;
Raphael R. Samuel, 2013–2022

Diócesis de Paraguay (Diocese of Paraguay)

Founded 1973.[16]

Diocesan bishop — vacant position

Previous bishops: Douglas Milmine, 1973–1985; John Ellison, 1988-2007; Peter Bartlett,
2008–

Diócesis de Perú (Diocese of Peru)

Founded 1977.[15]

Diocesan bishop — Jorge Luis Aguilar, 2017–

 Previous bishops: Bill Flagg, 1977; David Evans, 1978–1988; Alan Winstanley, 1988–1993;
William Godfrey, 1998–2017

Diócesis de Uruguay (Diocese of Uruguay)

Founded 1988 from Argentina.[15] See city, Cathedral of The Most Holy Trinity, Montevideo

Diocesan bishop — Daniel Genovesi, 2019–

Previous bishops: William Godfrey, 1988-1998; Miguel Tamayo; Michael Pollesel, 2012–

Separation of Peru
In July 2015 it was announced by the Anglican Communion secretariat that the Diocese of Peru was
working towards emancipation from the Province of South America, with the intention of becoming an
autonomous province of the Anglican Communion, consisting of four dioceses. The four dioceses were to
be formed by splitting the current Diocese of Peru into the new dioceses of Lima, Arequipa, Chiclayo, and
Huancayo. No date was announced for the formation of the province, but the intended first bishops of each
diocese were consecrated. Bishops Alejandro Mesco, Juan Carlos Revilla, and Jorge Luis Aguilar, were all
consecrated in July 2015; they are the first indigenous Peruvian bishops to be consecrated in the Anglican
Communion.[17] The decision to become an independent province was rescinded at the diocesan synod in
2017. The new bishops remain in post as auxiliary bishops within the diocese.

Separation of Chile
In July 2015 it was announced by the Anglican Communion secretariat that the Diocese of Chile was
working towards emancipation from the Province of South America, with the intention of becoming an
autonomous province of the Anglican Communion, consisting of four dioceses. The four dioceses were to
be formed by splitting the current Diocese of Chile into the new dioceses of Concepción, Santiago,
Temuco, and Valparaíso. The intended first bishops of the four dioceses were Tito Zavala (then the
diocesan bishop), Abelino Manuel Apeleo (then the auxiliary bishop), and two new bishops who were
consecrated in 2016 as additional auxiliaries, namely Alfred Cooper and Nelson Ojeda. The split into the
four new dioceses took place in the early part of 2018, and the new province was formally constituted on 4
November 2018 by Archbishop Justin Welby and Presiding Bishop Gregory Venables.[18] Tito Zavala and
Abelino Manuel Apeleo became diocesan bishops as planned, along with former archdeacons Samuel
Morrison and Him Enrique Lago. The two bishops consecrated in 2016 remain in post as auxiliary bishops
within the diocese.[19]

Anglican realignment
In 2003, after the consecration of Gene Robinson, a partnered homosexual, as the Bishop of New
Hampshire in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, the Province of the Southern Cone
severed its relationship with the Episcopal Church (the sole dissent in the diocesan synod was the vote of
the Diocese of Uruguay, which voted to maintain full communion with both the Anglican Church of
Canada and the Episcopal Church). The province has been involved in the Anglican realignment, as a
member of the Global South (Anglican), (GAFCON), and it is in full communion with the Anglican
Church in North America, formed in 2009 by former members of the Episcopal Church. The Church of the
Province of the Southern Cone decided previously to extend ecclesiastical jurisdiction to conservative
congregations or dioceses (including some from the Diocese of Virginia) that departed from the Episcopal
Church, but were located within its geographical authority.
The bishops and a number of communicants of four dioceses in the United States — the Anglican Diocese
of San Joaquin, the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh, the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth and the Diocese
of Quincy (ACNA) – voted in their conventions to separate from the Episcopal Church and affiliate "on an
emergency and temporary basis" with the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of America. Those who
have chosen to remain in the Episcopal Church in the United States have reformed their dioceses and have
elected new leadership.

In Canada, 72 parishes in Canada have formed the Anglican Network in Canada and identify as an
"ecclesial body under the jurisdiction of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone".

The province also had provisional oversight over one diocese in Brazil, the Diocese of Recife (Diocese do
Recife) under Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti, which withdrew from the Anglican Episcopal Church of
Brazil, due to the diocese's opposition to the Brazilian policy of blessing same-sex unions, but later become
an extraprovincial diocese of the Global South.[20]

The Anglican Communion Office does not recognize jurisdiction of the Southern Cone bishops over
dioceses and ecclesiastical bodies located geographically outside Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru,
and Uruguay.[21]

Notes and references

Notes

1. But, since 2010, SAMS has been part of the new Church Mission Society.
2. This was due to legal requirements at the time, which did not allow the Church of England to
consecrate or appoint bishops outside those territories under the jurisdiction of the Crown.

References

1. "Bishop Nicholas Drayson elected as Primate of the Anglican Church of South America" (htt
ps://www.anglicannews.org/news/2021/04/bishop-nicholas-drayson-elected-as-primate-of-th
e-anglican-church-of-south-america.aspx).
2. Q&A: Bishop Zavala of Cono Sur, The Living Church, 29 April 2013 (http://www.livingchurch.
org/qa-bishop-zavala-cono-sur)
3. Change recorded at Anglican Communion website (http://www.anglicancommunion.org/stru
ctures/member-churches/member-church.aspx?church=south-america).
4. (Milmine 1993, p. 8)
5. History: Church Mission Society (http://www.cms-uk.org/Whoweare/History/SAMStimeline/ta
bid/511/language/en-GB/Default.aspx), Official website
6. (Milmine 1993, p. 11)
7. (Milmine 1993, p. 9)
8. (Milmine 1993, p. 16)
9. (Milmine 1993, p. 48)
10. Account of synod at Anglican Communion News Service (http://www.anglicannews.org/new
s/2012/03/southern-cone-synod-proposes-one-province-becomes-two.aspx).
11. "Rusty and Tammy Firestone: Advent Prayers" (http://samsusa.org/users/rusty-and-tammy-fir
estone). 5 December 2016.
12. "First female priests ordained in Uruguay" (http://www.anglicanjournal.com/articles/first-fema
le-priests-ordained-in-uruguay#sthash.tN9vrp0c.dpuf). December 2015.
13. "GAFCON Primates wrap up their meeting with a communique" (http://www.episcopalcafe.c
om/gafcon-primates-wrap-up-their-meeting-with-a-communique/). Episcopal Cafe. 18 April
2015. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
14. "Curas uruguayos se reconocen gay a pesar de mantenerse célibes" (http://www.lr21.com.u
y/comunidad/112756-curas-uruguayos-se-reconocen-gay-a-pesar-de-mantenerse-celibes).
LARED21 (in European Spanish). 27 April 2003. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
15. Markham. Ian S. & al. (eds), "La Iglesia Anglicana del Cono Sur (The Anglican Province of
the Cono Sur)" (Chapter 50) in The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to the Anglican
Communion Google Books (https://books.google.com/books?id=rbwKNhBueasC&pg=PT61
5) (Accessed 7 September 2016)
16. Millam, Rev. Peter J. (August 1997). "The Falklands - The World's Largest Diocese" (https://
web.archive.org/web/20080112212502/http://www.falklands.info/history/histarticle18.html).
Archived from the original (http://www.falklands.info/history/histarticle18.html) on 12 January
2008. Retrieved 2008-02-17.
17. The consecrations, and the intended new provincial structure, all announced at the Anglican
Communion News Service (http://www.anglicannews.org/news/2015/07/first-ever-Peruvian-
Anglican-bishops-consecrated-in-lima.aspx).
18. "Birth of a new mission as "shining light" Chile becomes Anglican Communion's 40th
province" (https://www.anglicannews.org/news/2018/11/birth-of-a-new-mission-as-shining-li
ght-chile-becomes-anglican-communions-40th-province.aspx). Anglican Communion News
Service. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
19. "NUESTROS OBISPOS" (https://web.archive.org/web/20181225062721/http://www.iach.cl/n
uestro-obispo/). Iglesia Anglicana de Chile. Archived from the original (http://www.iach.cl/nue
stro-obispo/) on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
20. "Southern Cone offers haven to disaffected US dioceses" (http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/con
tent.asp?id=47396/), Church Times, 16 November 2007
21. "Anglican Communion: Member Church" (http://www.aco.org/tour/province.cfm?ID=S5).

Bibliography
Milmine, Obispo Douglas (1993), La Comunion Anglicana en América Latina

External links
Christianity portal
South America
portal

http://www.anglicana.org.ar/ (official website of the Iglesia Anglicana Argentina, Diocese of

Argentina)
South American Missionary Society (https://web.archive.org/web/20070928132649/http://ww
w.samsusa.org/missionaries-frames09.html)
Iglesia Anglicana de Chile (Anglican Church of Chile) (http://www.iach.cl/)
Iglesia Anglicana del Uruguay (Anglican Church of Uruguay) (http://www.uruguay.anglican.o
rg/)
The Anglican Church in Paraguay (http://www.olgiati-in-paraguay.org/anglicae.html)

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