Latin American/Anglican Congress to Meet in '87
Episcopal News Service. December 23, 1986 [86010]
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (DPS, Jan. 23) -- After 150 years of missionary work, the first Latin American Anglican Congress will take place Nov.12 to 18, 1987, in Santa Clara, Panama, according to an announcement from its planning committee, which met here in mid-December.
The congress is being called by the primates of the two autonomous churches in Latin America -- the Province of the Southern Cone and the Episcopal Church in Brazil -- and the president of Province IX of the Episcopal Church. Its purpose is to "share and celebrate our common life, and to promote the growth, development and mission of the Anglican Church in Latin America."
The congress will gather some 180 persons from the 28 jurisdictions in the continent and international guests. Each diocese is requested to send five delegates: a bishop, a priest and three other persons, one of whom must be a woman and another a youth.
There are 20 workshops planned for the event, with themes which include: ministry, Anglicanism, missionary strategy, ecumenism, spirituality, social context, education, pastoral concerns and communication and literature in Spanish and Portuguese.
Each day will begin with a Eucharist and Bible study. After a plenary presentation, the group will be divided in small groups for discussion and a report back to the plenary.
The congress does not have legislative power, but it is expected that its recommendations, which will be published, will have an impact on the life and work of the Anglican Communion in Latin America.
"We need to know each other better, we need to plan better our common destiny and need to unite our resources. We have come a long way, but we still have many things to accomplish," said the Rt. Rev. Olavo Ventura Luiz, acting primate of the Episcopal Church of Brazil.
The Planning committee for the event is formed by the Rt. Rev. Colin Bazley, Bishop of Chile, Chairperson, representing the Province of the Southern Cone; Luiz; and Miss Glenda McQueen, a lay woman from Panama, representing the Ninth Province of the Episcopal Church. The Rev. Onell Soto, mission information officer at the Episcopal Church Center in New York, serves as staff for the committee.