The Anglican Church of Chile ( es, Iglesia Anglicana de Chile) is the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United State ...

of the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

that covers four dioceses in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. Formed in 2018, the province is the 40th and the newest in the Anglican Communion. The province consists of four dioceses. Its

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...

and

metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

is the Archbishop of Chile, Héctor Zavala.

History

Diocese of the Falkland Islands

During the 19th century, British immigrants to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

brought

Anglicanism Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

with them . The Patagonian Missionary Society, renamed South American Mission Society (SAMS) in 1868, was initially active in

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla G ...

and later extended its activities to the Araucanian region. It was responsible for the formation of all the early Anglican churches and missions in Chile.

Waite Stirling Waite Hockin Stirling (1829 – 19 November 1923) was a 19th-century missionary with the Patagonian Missionary Society (later known as the South American Missionary Society) and was the first Anglican Bishop of the Falkland Islands. He was bro ...

, a missionary from the South American Missionary Society, was consecrated at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

on 21 December 1869 as the first

Bishop of the Falkland Islands The Bishop of the Falkland Islands was historically a bishopric in the Church of England; as the ordinary of the Diocese of the Falkland Islands, the bishop had responsibility for chaplaincies across South America, before national metropolitical pr ...

. The see of the bishop was in Buenos Aires . 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, but the jurisdiction of the bishop was stated to be all of South America apart from British Guiana.

Diocese of Chile

The Diocese of Chile, Bolivia and Peru was formed in 1963, as part of a general process of forming national dioceses out of the enormous diocese of the Falkland Islands. Following expansion it became the Diocese of Chile and Bolivia in 1971 when Peru became a separate diocese. It was again renamed the Diocese of Chile in 1981, following separation from Bolivia. Until 1974, the various dioceses of the southern cone were under the metropolitical oversight of the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

. In that year a process began to inaugurate a new Anglican province. The Diocese of Chile was a constituent and founding diocese of the new Province of the Southern Cone of America in 1981, and remained part of that province until 2018, although the province was renamed in September 2014 as the Anglican Church of South America.

Proposed autonomy

Following the change of provincial name, two constituent dioceses, Chile and Peru, both began expansion towards forming autonomous provinces. In 2017 the Diocese of Peru voted at its diocesan synod to abandon its plans to form an autonomous province, but the diocese of Chile continued its expansion towards that goal. As part of these preparations, auxiliary bishops were consecrated. Three auxiliary bishops, together with the diocesan bishop Tito Zavala, took responsibility for four geographical regions, and in 2018 these were formed into four new dioceses.

Province of Chile

Following approval from the

Anglican Consultative Council The Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) is one of the four "Instruments of Communion" of the Anglican Communion. It was created by a resolution of the 1968 Lambeth Conference. The council, which includes Anglican bishops, other clergy, and laity ...

the four Chilean dioceses were nominated to form an autonomous province, to be established in 2018, and named Iglesia Anglicana de Chile (Anglican Church of Chile). The inauguration was carried out in a special service on 4 November 2018 in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

. The Presiding Bishop of South America,

Gregory Venables Gregory James Venables (born 6 December 1949) is an English Anglican bishop. He has served as the Primate of the Southern Cone in South America from 2001 until 2010, and once again since 2016 until 2020. He is the former diocesan bishop of Arg ...

, presided at the service, and the

Justin Welby Justin Portal Welby (born 6 January 1956) is a British bishop who is the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury. He has served in that role since 2013. Welby was previously the vicar of Southam, Warwickshire, and then Bishop of Durham, serving for jus ...

, presided over the inauguration and preached the sermon in the presence of bishops and archbishops from across South America and other parts of the Anglican Communion. Archbishop Welby handed primatial authority (represented by the symbolic handing over of a primatial cross) to Archbishop Tito Zavala, the Bishop of Santiago, and previously Bishop of Chile. Archbishop Zavala had previously served as Primate of South America from 2010 to 2016. The new province gives the statistics of 95 parishes and approximately 20,000 members for their membership. The House of Bishops at the formation of the province in 2018 consisted of: * Héctor Zavala Muñoz (commonly known as Tito Zavala), consecrated 1998, Bishop of Santiago from 2018, first Archbishop; * Abelino Manuel Apeleo, consecrated 1994, Bishop of Temuco from 2018; *Samuel Morrison, consecrated 2018, Bishop of Valparaíso from 2018; *

Him Enrique Lago Enrique Lago Zugadi is a Chilean Anglican bishop. Since 2018 he has been Bishop of Concepción in the 40th Province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the anc ...

, consecrated 2018, Bishop of Concepción from 2018; *Alfred Cooper, consecrated 2016, auxiliary bishop; *

Nelson Ojeda Nelson Ojeda is a Chilean Anglican bishop. He was consecrated as an auxiliary Bishop of Chile in 2016, and continued in that role after the diocese was formed into an autonomous ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the ...

, consecrated 2016, auxiliary bishop.

Archbishops

The

Primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...

and

Metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

of the province is the Archbishop of Chile. The new office is still held by the inaugural archbishop. * Tito Zavala, 2018–present

Dioceses

The province consists of four dioceses. * Diocese of Concepción * Diocese of Santiago * Diocese of Temuco * Diocese of Valparaíso

Previous bishops

As a constituent diocese of the South American province, the Anglican Church in Chile was previously led by Bishop

David Pytches George Edward David Pytches (born 9 January 1931) is a bishop of the Anglican Communion and the former Bishop of Chile, Bolivia and Peru. Pytches was also vicar of St Andrew's, in Chorleywood England. He is the author of many books, including ...

(1972–1976) and Bishop Colin Bazley (1977–2000). Tito Zavala became the first Chilean native bishop in 2000; Abelino Manuel Apeleo became an assistant bishop in 2016.

Anglican realignment

The

Anglican Church of South America The Anglican Church of South America ( es, Iglesia Anglicana de Sudamérica) is the ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion that covers six dioceses in the countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. Formed in 198 ...

, formerly known as

Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of America The Anglican Church of South America ( es, Iglesia Anglicana de Sudamérica) is the ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion that covers six dioceses in the countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. Formed in 1981 ...

, from which the Province of Chile was formed, has been involved in the Anglican realignment. Likewise the Anglican Church of Chile is also a member of the

Global South The concept of Global North and Global South (or North–South divide in a global context) is used to describe a grouping of countries along socio-economic and political characteristics. The Global South is a term often used to identify region ...

and the

Global Anglican Future Conference The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) is a series of conferences of conservative Anglican bishops and leaders, the first of which was held in Jerusalem from 22 to 29 June 2008 to address the growing controversy of the divisions in the An ...

(GAFCON), and is in full communion with the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), formed in 2009 by former members of the Episcopal Church in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and the

Anglican Church of Canada The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2017, the Anglican Church co ...

, wishing to maintain a more conservative approach to biblical interpretation and authority. Representatives of the Anglican Church in North America were present at the inauguration of the new province, including former archbishop Robert Duncan and current

Foley Beach Foley Thomas Beach (born October 31, 1958) is an American bishop. He is the second primate and archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, a church associated with the Anglican realignment movement. Foley was elected as the church's prima ...

. The future Anglican Church of Chile was represented at GAFCON III, in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, on 17–22 June 2018, by a 15 members delegation.GAFCON III largest pan-Anglican gathering since Toronto Congress of 1963, Anglican Ink, 20 June 2018
/ref>

References

Bibliography

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chile, Anglican Church of

Members of the World Council of Churches Christian organizations established in 2018 Anglican denominations in South America Anglicanism in Chile Anglican realignment denominations

Anglican dioceses in South America Anglican bishops of Chile