New leaders across Central America

From ACNS-

Change is underway among the leadership of the Anglican Church in Central America. Three of its five dioceses are electing new bishops.

The Diocese of Guatamala chose Revd Silvestre Enrique Romero Leon at its Extraordinary Convention in May. Revd Silvestre is married and has three children. He is the son of the Rt Revd Silvestre Romero Palma, a former Bishop of Belize. He has also served in the Diocese of Belize, as well as the Dioceses of Spokane and the Camino Real in the United States. He was also a member of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church. He is currently Rector of St. Peter Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Massachusetts.

The celebration of ordination and consecration of the Coadjutor Bishop is expected to take place in November and the installation as Diocesan Bishop in October 2018, when Bishop Armando Guerra Soria will be retiring.

Change is coming in Costa Rica too, where Bishop Hector Monterroso has left to join the Diocese of Texas. It is one of two dioceses that maintain a companion relationship with Costa Rica.

More here-

http://www.anglicannews.org/news/2017/08/new-leaders-across-central-america.aspx

North Carolina group explores partnership in Costa Rica

From ENS-

It may have been love at first sight.

On a recent Tuesday morning, a priest, a pediatrician, a judge and a schoolteacher walked into the Episcopal Church of Costa Rica’s Hogar Escuela, or “Home School,” in the Barrio Cuba section of San José to find 160 children aged six months to 12 years dressed in matching blue and white checked tops and navy blue bottoms.

“The program started here 50 years ago with 10 children, in four years there were 40… ,” explained Costa Rica Bishop Hector Monterroso, adding the school primarily serves children of single mothers in one of San José’s poorest neighborhoods where it’s not uncommon for drug dealers to work the corners.

“The children think that this is normal,” he said.

The school serves as something of an oasis; with everything from its covered playground – it rains nine months of the year in Costa Rica – to the paint colors that encourage calm and learning. By providing the children with the best possible care and environment for play and for learning, the school’s staff, which includes two chaplains, hopes to prepare them for a brighter future.
“We support the children with good education, nutrition, technology and values. By providing a safe place and a different environment [for the children], maybe we can break the cycle [of poverty],” said Monterroso.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2013/08/21/north-carolina-group-explores-partnership-in-costa-rica/

"The Catholic Church Is The Closet Of Gays", Colombian Priest Writes In His Book

From Costa Rico-

Out of frustration at episcopal inaction, a priest of the Colombian archdiocese of Cali, has written a book on the ongoing homosexual scandals among priests of the archdiocese.

Father Germán Robledo, former head of the archdiocesan ecclesiastical tribunal, wrote that the third largest diocese of Colombia is rife with active and uncorrected homosexuals and heterosexual priests who prey upon young people, have fathered children and used parish funds to pay off the extortion demands of their boy-lovers and the fees for procurers.

The priest has kept his writings in absolute secrecy until they were published, calling it a "bomb" for the clergy of Cali.

Fr. Robledo, a priest for 45 years who served on the tribunal for 23 years, said that since he first presented his allegations and evidence of sexual and financial misconduct by priests in the archdiocese, the problems have increased "due to the lack of control and vigilance". He indicated that the Archbishop has done nothing to stop the misconduct of his priests.

The book, titled, ¿Hacia un celo gay? (Towards a Gay Clergy) is intended, Fr. Robledo said, to "denounce a tendency which is presenting itself within the Catholic Church".

"In the past 30 years," he said, "the Church has leaned towards priests with profiles with effeminate traces, sweet, obedient, submissive, uncritical, and who always accept the authoritarian role of the bishop and of the other superiors." He asserts that 30 per cent of the archdiocese's priests are homosexuals.

More here-

http://www.insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2010/may/16/costarica10051609.htm