Church of the Word
FIRST APPEAL TO PANEL OF REFERENCE

Brazilian Archdeacon Meets with Lambeth Palace
05/29/2005

The Ven. Mguel Uchoa, Archdeacon of Southern Recife and rector of one of South America's largest Anglican parishes (the 1,000-member Church of the Holy Spirit in Recife), pleaded the case for alternative arch-episcopal oversight to the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon and Chris Smith, a senior aide to Archbishop Rowan Williams during an hour-and-a-half meeting held May 26 at the Anglican Consultative Council headquarters in north London.

The Rt. Rev. Wallace Benn, Bishop of Lewes, and leaders of Anglican Mainstream joined Archdeacon Uchoa and Maricio Rego, senior warden of Holy Trinity, Recife, in making the case that an alternate archbishop be given oversight for the diocese.

The evangelical Diocese of Recife has long been at odds with the progressively minded Anglican Province of Brazil. Last fall Brazil’s primate sought to prorogue Recife’s convention and has cut off funding to the diocese.

One of those present, the Rev. Canon Christopher Sugden of Anglican Mainstream, told THE LIVING CHURCH the meeting was “noteworthy” as being the first formal response by an aggrieved parish or diocese to the recommendations made by the primates on Feb 24.

A spokesman for the Anglican Consultative Council told TLC on May 27 that the names of the remaining members of the Panel of Reference will be released May 31. Archbishop Williams named former Australian Primate, Archbishop Peter Carnley, chairman of the panel earlier this month. The ACC staff in London will provide administrative support.

In a series of public meetings sponsored by the South American Mission Society, Archdeacon Uchoa, spoke to groups in London and the Home Counties outlining the history of the crisis in Brazil.

To go to the website for the Church of the Holy Spirit (English language), click here.

To read Archdeacon Uchoa's remarks in their entirety, click here.

For a recent interview about the Panel of Reference with Archbishop Carnley, click here: click here.

© Copyright 2003 The Living Church Foundation. All rights reserved.

This article comes from The Living Church Foundation
http://www.livingchurch.org/

The URL for this story is:
http://www.livingchurch.org/publishertlc/viewarticle.asp?ID=1024