Spanish Episcopalians Take Place as 'Anglicans'
Episcopal News Service. November 11, 1982 [82241]
MADRID (DPS, Nov. 11) -- A consecration, ecumenism, education and pastoral response -- it was all going on at once here in early November as the newest member of the Anglican Communion takes its place in Spain's Christian community.
At a time when thousands of Spaniards were lining the streets of Madrid to greet Pope John Paul II, 500 people packed a small church for quite a different event: the consecration of the Rev. Arturo Sánchez as bishop coadjutor of the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church.
Sánchez was consecrated by diocesan Bishop Ramón Taibo, and assisted by Bishop Daniel de Pina Cabral, former bishop of Mozambique, representing the Archbishop of Canterbury; and Bishop John Krumm, bishop of the Convocation of American Churches in Europe representing the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church.
Also taking part in the consecration were Bishop Leonardo Romero, bishop of Northern Mexico and president of Province IX; Bishop Robert C. Witcher, bishop of Long Island; Bishop Kenneth Howell, former bishop of Chile and secretary of the Spanish and Portuguese Aid Society based in London; Bishop John C. Duggan, bishop of Tuam, Ireland and Bishop Fernando Soares, bishop of the Lusitanian Church of Portugal.
Sánchez, 57, was born in La Mancha, the land of Don Quixote, and was ordained deacon in 1958 and priest in 1959. All his ministry has been at the Church in Valencia.
Sánchez will be installed as diocesan in September 1983 when Taibo will be 72, the canonical age for retirement in the Spanish Church. He and part of his family will live in an apartment next to the Cathedral in Madrid. The apartment is part of a building which has been renovated with the assistance of two grants from the United Thank Offering of the Episcopal Church.
For the first time in Spain a woman priest processed with the bishops and other clergy. The Rev. Mary Anderson, of Cleveland, Ohio, and a personal friend of the Sanchezes from her college days in Spain, was greeted with enthusiasm by friends and ecumenical observers. "It is the first time that I have seen a woman priest and it is not a bad idea," said Sister MarÃa José, of the Missionaries of Unity in Madrid.
Present also was the Most Rev. Miguel Roca, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Valencia and national secretary of ecumenism for the Conference of Bishops.
The day after the consecration, clergy and several lay leaders of the Spanish Church met at a retreat house in El Escorial for a theological education seminar conducted by Episcopalians, including Witcher; the Rev. Luis Ouirova who will be appointed to serve as a missionary in Spain; the Rev. Herbert Arrunátegui, national Hispanic officer who explained the structure and content of the new Book of Common Prayer in Spanish, and the Rev. Onell A. Soto, mission information officer who lectured on the Anglican Communion today.
The two bishops and three other clergy met with Pope John Paul II at the Nunciature in Madrid. Taibo, representing the non-Roman Christians in Spain, greeted the Pope and said that they were happy with the new laws that allow freedom of worship in the country.
"It was unthinkable to have this meeting here just a few years ago," said Taibo, "but today we rejoice that the climate of intolerance and even hostiility in the past has changed to one of understanding and mutual respect today."
The Pope answered the message acknowledging "the suffering of the past" but thanking God that situation has been overcome. The bishops presented the Pope with a popular version of the New Testament which has been done by an interconfessional committee, presided over by Taibo.
But, not all was joy and peace. The members of the Spanish Church received a reDort from the Rev. Manuel Melgarez that the Church in Carcagente, near Valencia, had been destroyed by a tremendous flood and that he and seven members of the Church had lost all their possessions.
A special offering was collected and prayers were offered for these and other victims. In New York, the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief began processing a grant for relief to Carcagente.