The tenth Synod of the Province of the Southern Cone of America, meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 1-5 November, 2010, has elected Bishop Hector "Tito" Zavala of Chile as its next Presiding Bishop replacing Bishop Gregory Venables. Bishop Zavala becomes the province's first Presiding Bishop of Chilean extraction. Bishop Zavala was vice-chairman of Southern Cone's Provincial Executive Council.
The Presiding Bishop of the Southern Cone is elected for a three year term and may be elected for more than one term. Under the provisions of the Southern Cone's constitution and canons metropolitical authority is vested in the Provincial Executive Council which the Presiding Bishop chairs. The Provincial Executive Council is made up of all the provincial bishops of the Southern Cone.
On October 1, 2010 Canon Kenneth Kearon, the Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council, wrote Bishop Zavala, requesting that he withdraw from membership in the Inter Anglican Standing Commission on Unity Faith and Order as his standing with the IASCUFO been reduced from member to consultant after Bishop Venables allegedly failed to respond to Kearon's request for clarification as to the current state of his interventions into other provinces. Bishop Venables subsequently disputed Kearon's claim that he had not responded to Kearon's request.
Bishop Venables will remain Bishop of Argentina and Northern Argentina.
In another closely followed vote, the house of clergy rejected a measure that would have permitted those dioceses that had affirmed the ordination of women to the priesthood to move ahead with ordaining the first women priests. The other two houses of the Provincial Synod voted in favor of the measure.
The Province of the Southern Cone comprises the seven dioceses of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Northern Argentina, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.
To visit the web site of the Anglican Church of Chile, click here. If you have the new Google tool bar, it will translate the site for you. Just click the "translate" icon.
3 comments:
Robin,
There may be something to say about SC electing a native South American as PB, it may be interesting to see what direction he takes them? As for Greg Venables, he now joins the ranks of those leaders who had been supportive of ac/na, now having left the field. I believe that bishops Schofield and Riches are due to retire next year, joining Ackerman who retired last year. Some of the others like Harvey are getting long in the tooth and will likely retire in the not too distant future, leaving openings for others who can take ac/na wherever it is the want to go. It makes me grateful not to have purchased stock in them.
Bishop Hector Zavala Munoz has been vice-chairman of South Cone's Provincial Executive Council since 2004. Venables was elected Southern Cone's Presiding Biship in 2002. He has served almost three terms. Venables is presently administering two dioceses--Argentina and Northern Argentina. Northern Argentina has not elect a new bishop. Venables has had a long ministry in the South American, first as headmaster at St Andrew's College in Asuncion (Paraguay) and later in Bolivia, where he was the diocesan bishop for eight years. His retirement as Southern Cone's Presiding Bishop is not surprising. As vice-chairman Bishop Zavala Munoz was next in line for Presiding Bishop. Southern Cone has a number of native South American assistant bishops but only two native South American diocesan bishops. Most of its diocesan bishops are from the UK and the United States.
All of the primates that intervened in the United States took action relatively late in their terms of office. The global South provinces elect their primates for much shorter periods of time than the Western provinces. None of the The Episcopal Church and the Reformed Episcopal Church bishops involved in the formation of Common Cause and the Anglican Church in North America were new bishops. It is conceivable that they chose to act since once they retired they would have less influence. They had a small window of opportunity and took adavantage of it. Don Harvey, as you may remember, had already retired and came out of retirement to become the moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada. He had announced his retirement as ANiC moderator when Duncan appointed him dean of the ACNA. For a number of these bishops the ACNA is their last hurrah.
The focus of our attention should be the new movers and shakers in the ACNA and the Anglican Mission such as Kevin Donlan. They are already working to influence the direction of the ACNA and the Anglican Mission.
"They are already working to influence the direction of the ACNA and the Anglican Mission."
BUT IN WHAT DIRECTION?
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