Supporters from across the globe have travelled to the Chilean capital Santiago for a threefold ceremony that Anglican Aid CEO and former missionary to Chile, the Rev Canon Tim Swan, calls an “Anglican blockbuster event”.
The occasion was the retirement of Héctor (Tito) Zavala as Primate of Chile, the consecration of Juan Esteban Saravia as Bishop of Santiago, and the installation of Bishop Enrique Lago as Primate of Chile.
Sydney Anglicans have had strong links with ministry in Chile through Moore College, the Church Missionary Society and Anglican Aid.
Bishop Zavala (who at one stage also served as the Primate of the South American region known as the Southern Cone) took a sabbatical at Moore College in 2001 and returned to Chile to serve as Archbishop and Primate of Chile, and to initiate the Centre for Pastoral Studies (CEP), where various CMS missionaries have served – including Canon Swan, Michael Charles, the Rev Stephen Shead and the Rev Gary Haddon.
From CEP, students have gone on to lead Anglican churches across Chile, in neighbouring countries, and further afield.
One of the graduates was Juan Esteban Saravia who, together with his wife Carolina were esteemed students of the Charles' and Swans. After graduating from CEP, Saravia planted Christo Redentor church, together with the Swans, in the suburb of Ñuñoa. He went on to study for a Masters of Divinity at Trinity School for Ministry in Pittsburgh, sponsored by the Archbishop of Sydney’s Anglican Aid.
Canon Swan attended the event in January, along with the international director of CMS Australia the Rev Canon Peter Sholl, and Bishop Malcolm Richards, Sydney’s Bishop for International Relations (pictured above with the new bishop). The chairman of Gafcon, Archbishop Laurent Mbanda, and Anglican leaders from across Latin America were also present.
“The consecration ceremony highlighted the fruit of CMS’s long-term investment in CEP,” Canon Swan says. “A large proportion of Chilean clergy are now under 50, and new churches are being planted, bearing testimony to Bishop Zavala’s constant admonition to his Church to ‘move from maintenance mode to mission mode’.”
Above: Dozens of church leaders from around the world look on as Archbishop Tito raises the hand of new Bishop Saravia at the event
The new primate, Bishop Enrique Lago, is also known to Sydney Anglicans from visits to Australia. He gave an impassioned address to the assembly on the priority of upholding the Bible as the word of God in the church.
In the farewell for Archbishop Tito his ministry was recognised as globally significant.
Service leader Bishop Alfredo Cooper noted that, “The legacy of Archbishop Héctor Zavala is that of a man characterised by maintaining the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. He exercised his ministry with humility to listen, patience to resolve conflicts, pastoral love to edify his flock, and steadfast convictions to defend the truth of the gospel of Christ. These qualities earned him respect and recognition both in Chile and in the global Anglican Communion.”
In an address, drawing on 2 Cor 4:7, the newly consecrated Bishop Saravia humbly told the congregation:
“I want to tell you that I am a jar of clay. And you see all these bishops and clergy all dressed up in their robes? We are jars of clay. You are jars of clay. We are all broken vessels. It is only in Jesus, whom we all need, that we are restored, built up, healed and saved.”
