Gregory James Venables (born 6 December 1949) is an English Anglican bishop. He has served as 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 ...

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 Argentina since November 2020.

Early life

Venables was educated at

Chatham House Grammar School (May Chatham House Flourish) , established = 1797 , free_label_3 = Merged , free_3 = 2011 , closed = , type = Grammar schoolAcademy , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = , head ...

Kingston University , mottoeng = "Through Learning We Progress" , established = – gained University Status – Kingston Technical Institute , type = Public , endowment = £2.3 m (2015) , ...

and Christ Church University College Canterbury, after which he was successively a computer systems officer and a school teacher.

Ecclesiastical career

Venables was ordained as a deacon in 1984 and eight months later as priest. He started his ordained ministry, serving with the Anglican Church in

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

, Bolivia and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. He was headmaster of St Andrew's College, Asuncion,

, from 1978 until 1989. He was ordained to the

episcopate A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

in 1993 and returned to South America as Assistant Bishop of Peru and Bolivia, being consecrated the first Bishop of Bolivia in 1995. Venables was elected Archbishop of South America for the first time in 2001, serving until 2010. He became a significant leader of the

Anglican realignment The Anglican realignment is a movement among some Anglicans to align themselves under new or alternative oversight within or outside the Anglican Communion. This movement is primarily active in parts of the Episcopal Church in the United States ...

during his tenure. He was once again elected at the provincial synod held 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, whos ...

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 ...

on 7–10 November 2016 Venables is an honorary

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of Canterbury Christ Church University.CCCU citation
/ref> He is also the Patron of the Federation of Anglican Churches in the Americas. Venables has been married to Sylvia Margaret (née Norton) since 1970 and they have one son, two daughters and eight grandchildren.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Venables, Gregory 1949 births Alumni of Kingston University 21st-century Anglican archbishops British expatriates in Argentina English Anglicans Fellows of Canterbury Christ Church University Living people Alumni of Canterbury Christ Church University Anglican bishops of Bolivia Anglican bishops of Argentina Anglican realignment people