First ever Peruvian Anglican bishops consecrated in Lima

From ACNS--

Three new missionary bishops have been consecrated by the Primate of South America as part of plans for the diocese of Peru to become its own province.

The new bishops, Alejandro Mesco, Juan Carlos Revilla, and Jorge Luis Aguilar, will work alongside the Bishop of Peru, the Rt Revd William Godfrey, and will have responsibility for three of four newly carved out missionary areas, which will soon become dioceses: Arequipa, in the south of Peru; Chiclayo, in the north of Peru; Huancayo, in the central highlands; and Lima, the capital of Peru which sits on the Pacific coast.

The Diocese of Peru’s roots date back to 1846 when the then-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jose Gregorio Paz-Soldan gave permission for an Anglican mission to be established in Callao – the first non-Roman Catholic church to be allowed in the country.

More here-

http://www.anglicannews.org/news/2015/07/first-ever-peruvian-anglican-bishops-consecrated-in-lima.aspx

Anglican environmental network meets in Peru

From ENS

The Anglican Communion Environmental Network (ACEN) is meeting here from Aug. 4-10 in a conference on environmental ministry that also includes Roman Catholic and ecumenical partners.

Hosted by Bishop Bill Godfrey of the Diocese of Peru, representatives from Australia, United Kingdom, USA, Fiji, Canada, Melanesia, Brazil, Madagascar, Tanzania and Mexico are reporting on environmental work in their respective jurisdictions, according to a news release from the Anglican Communion News Service.

The partners are creating an action plan which will become a template for provincial, diocesan and parish-based ministry, the news service said. The plan is intended to connect with environmental ministry at the United Nations and in relation to the 17th meeting of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (known as COP 17) in Durban, South Africa in December 2011.

Participants are learning of climate-justice initiatives occurring between provinces and regions within the communion and are learning of life in the Peruvian church. The Anglican Church of Peru is a missionary diocese with growing churches in South America's third-largest country. Half of Peru's population live in poverty, making it one of the poorest countries in Latin America. The Anglican Diocese of Peru is responding with initiatives that make a practical difference to people’s lives, reaching over 2,000 people each week.

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_129375_ENG_HTM.htm

Peru Anglicans set up own ordinariate for RC priests

From The Church Times (Talk about a permeable membrane !)

AN “Ordinariate of Postulants” has been set up by the diocese of Peru in the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone to host a growing number of Roman Catholic priests who are keen to join the Anglican Church.

In contrast to the situation in England, where three former bishops recently joined the Ordinariate for former Anglicans established by Rome, clerics are making the reverse journey in South America.

The Bishop of Peru, the Rt Revd William Godfrey, said that, so far, about ten RC priests had joined the new group to explore the possibility of switching denominations. Some may bring congregations with them.

About half of them are from churches that have become indepen dent from the RC Church, often because the priests have got married.

Bishop Godfrey said that he had also received requests from RC clergy in Uruguay, Ecuador, and Argentina, to join the Anglican Church.

He said that it was not entirely new for Roman Catholics to make this journey, as “the Anglican Church in Latin America would not exist if it wasn’t for ex-Roman Catholics”, but priests were now leaving on a larger scale.

He said that many of these priests were looking for stability in their ministry, and that the Postulate was “some sort of body where these people can draw close to the An glican Church and experience its liturgical and pastoral tradition and theology, before taking the final step of being received. It provides a buffer zone in which we can prepare to receive them.”

Bishop Godfrey believes that some priests may have been encouraged by Pope Benedict XVI’s positive words about Anglicanism when setting up the Ordinariate, when he was “extra ordinarily positive” about the An glican tradition.

More here-

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=107969