New times, new hopes -- CLAI elects Anglican Bishop Julio Murray as its President
Episcopal News Service. March 7, 2007 [030707-02]
Gathered in Buenos Aires, February 19-25, the 500 delegates to the Assembly of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) with a ''chorus of voices, colors, smells, rhythms, songs, and flavors'' which celebrated ''the diversity of our spiritualities and identities, in intimate communion and challenge toward new times and hopes.''
The Council is formed by representatives from Central and Latin America and the Caribbean churches and ecumenical organizations working in the area.
During the event, they elected Panamanian Anglican Bishop Julio Murray, 49, as their new president. In 2006, Murray was elected Bishop of Panama, a diocese within the Iglesia Anglicana de la Región Central de América (IARCA), one of the autonomous Provinces of the Anglican Communion.
Coincidentally, Murray will succeed another Anglican - Episcopal Bishop Julio Holguin, from the Dominican Republic - for a three year term. Murray was elected on the third ballot from a field of five nominees.
The Rev. Canon Juan Marquez, Latin America and Caribbean Partnerships Officer of the Office of Anglican and Global Relations (AGR) of the Episcopal Church, attended the meeting together with other representatives from Anglican and Episcopal Churches in the region.
According to the Communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, the Assembly gave the Churches an opportunity ''to celebrate with joy and hope'' new developments taking place in the different Regions of CLAI, ''in which efforts are made to elevate the dignity of those less favored.'' There was a sense of new hope ''in seeing the success of the initiatives on behalf of the formation and training in the mediation of conflicts, the promotion of peace in the familial, social, and structural context, which is a fruit of the Latin American Campaign for the Decade to Overcome Violence.''
The Council warned the Churches about the challenge of "accommodating themselves to systems that are opposed to the values of a Theology of the Kingdom of God. It is therefore urgent to continue exercising our prophetic voice in denouncing injustices, violations of human, economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights, thus announcing a liberating theology that practices a communal, educational, and transforming ethic.''