Americas’ Anglican primates meet in Panama, elect regional leadership
Primates representing the Americas from left, the Most Rev. Brian Williams, Anglican Church of South America; the Most Rev. Juan David Alvarado Melgar, the Anglican Chuch of Central America; the Most Rev. Linda Nicholls, the Anglican Church of Canada; the Most Rev. Marinez Rosa Dos Santos Bassoto, the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil; the Most Howard Gregory, the Anglican Church in the Province of the West Indies; and, the Most Rev. Enrique Trevino, the Anglican Church of Mexico. Photo: Charles Robertson
[Episcopal News Service] Anglican primates from across the Americas met in Panama City, Panama, this week to elect regional leadership and discuss common concerns.
Primates elected the Most Rev. Marinez Rosa Dos Santos Bassoto, primate of the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil and bishop of the Diocese of the Amazon, as their regional primate, and the Most Rev. Juan David Alvarado Melgar, primate of the Anglican Church of Central America and bishop of El Salvador, as their alternate primate. Each will serve a preliminary three-year term.
Additionally, each primate gave a presentation during the Aug. 13-15 meeting, covering issues such as immigration, climate change/creation care, Indigenous issues and reparative justice in their provincial context. The presentations were followed later by a discussion centered on shared concerns.
“The Anglican Communion is encouraging deeper connections on the regional level. This meeting devoted an entire day to presentations by each primate about his or her province, including noteworthy things happening as well as significant challenges; they learned much about one another and their respective contexts but also acknowledged common threads in their stories,” the Rev. Charles Robertson, canon to the presiding bishop for ministry beyond The Episcopal Church, told Episcopal News Service.
Robertson and the Rev. Glenda McQueen, the church’s partnership officer for Latin America and the Caribbean, represented Presiding Bishop Michael Curry at the meeting. Both Curry and Presiding Bishop-elect Sean Rowe sent greetings to the group.
The Rt. Rev. Julio Murray, bishop of the Diocese of Panama, welcomed the primates. The Rt. Rev. Jo Bailey Wells, deputy secretary general of the Anglican Communion, attended the meeting.
The regional primate will represent the Americas on the Anglican Communion Standing Committee, as well as call for and host further online meetings of the primates of the Americas.
The primates of the Americas plan to meet online in November.
