Posted on: May 3, 2018 12:28 PM

The Diocese of Chile in the Anglican Church of South America could become its own autonomous province of the Anglican Communion by the end of the year. An extraordinary Synod of the diocese will be held later this month to confirm a resolution that was ratified by the Synod when it met in Temuco in 2015. Nearly 100 representatives from across Chile will gather in Santiago on 12 May to agree proposals for the creation of what will become new dioceses in the independent province, and elect the people who will become its first bishops and primate.

“This meeting is vital in our journey towards being an Anglican Province; and this fact is undoubtedly important for the missionary growth that we long to experience as a Church in future years,” the Bishop of Chile, Héctor Zavala, said. “Being a Province means in part that we will have an independent and autonomous Church in direct relation with the Anglican Communion and its different instruments of communion.

“And this Synod will be important because in it the election of the four future diocesan bishops will be carried out that together with a Primate will lead the four dioceses that will constitute our national Church,” he said.

The Synod will also be asked to approve the new constitution and the canons of the new Province.

The Synod is being asked to approve the creation of four new dioceses: Valparaiso, Santiago, Temuco, and Conception.

The Chair of the Anglican Consultative Council, Archbishop Paul Kwong, will lead an international delegation to Chile later this year to assess whether the criteria for the creation of a new Anglican province has been met. He will be joined by the ACC's vice-chair, Maggie Swinson; the Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, representing the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby; Bishop Jane Alexander from the Anglican Church of Canada; Mr Jeroham Melendez, from the Anglican Church of the Region of Central America; the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon; and the chief executive of the Anglican Communion Office, David White.