Schism divides Brazilian Anglican church

Largest Anglican congregation in South America quits

ARTICLE | MARCH 28, 2013 - 9:12AM | BY GEORGE CONGER

The Bishop of São Paulo and the former primate of Brazil have quit the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil (IEAB), taking with them the largest Anglican congregation in South America.

On 17 March 2013 parish council of St. Paul’s Cathedralin São Paulo stated that while they remained in the Anglican Communion they were reverting to their pre-1975 status as a Church of England chaplaincy and were no longer under the oversight of the IEAB.

Money and politics rather than doctrine appeared to be behind the secession of St. Paul’s. The Bishop of Recife, the Rt. Rev. Miguel Uchoa said the new group was not affiliated with his diocese in the Northeast. He told Anglican Ink that in 2012 the Diocese of São Paulo attempted to elect a new bishop. HoweverI “the bishop elected was not accepted by some churches. They opened a protest against the diocese and from this mess the bishop in office and the retired bishop Glauco Soares de Lima, ex primate of Brazil, left together and now they call themselves just Anglicans.”

“There are no theological issue in all of this, no doctrinal subject. It seems that it is all about power and money. It is the first schismatic case I have seen here between the liberals over power,” Bishop Uchoa said.

In its statement the parish council said Church of England chaplaincies in Brazil began in 1810 and theSão Paulo chaplaincy had been registered with the government and legally incorporated in 1873 -- 17 years before the Episcopal Church of the USA founded the IEAB .  “Therefore, the English chaplaincies have 80 more years of life and their assets are untouchable, according to the treaty of 1810, and this agreement has always been respected by the IEAB.”

The parish council stated that in 1975 Saint Paul's had “spiritually” joined the diocese of São Paulo but it’s assets remained independent of diocesan control.   “This agreement was formalized by the Parochial Board, emphasizing the existence of spiritual bonds but not property.”

The congregation also announced that it would remain under the spiritual oversight of Bishop Roger Bird of São Paulo and retired Archbishop Glauco Soares de Lima. The primate of Brazil and general secretary of the IEAB have not responded to queries as to the status of Bishop Bird and Archbishop Soares de Lima within the church’s House of Bishops, nor has Bishop Bird responded to queries. However sources in São Paulo tell AI the parties are seeking a way to resolve the split and do not want to take the battle to the press.

However the IEAB website as deleted Bishop Bird’s name from its list of diocesan bishops stating São Paulo was now under temporary primatial oversight.

Two other congregations have joined the Cathedral in quitting the IEAB-- all Saints in São Paulo and GoiâniaAnglican Church.

The Cathedral worships the liberal Catholic tradition and welcomes “all Brazilians who enjoy the inclusive way, didactic, therapeutic and caring way of proclaiming the Good News of God's Kingdom … We are and will always be, respectful of the inclusive of tradition our Mother Church - the Church of England – who founded us and of which we are proud to belong.”

The Cathedral has provided the bulk of the income for the diocese São Paulo and its withdrawal is likely to have financial consequences as it was the “largest Anglican community in Latin America, larger even than the vast majority of Episcopal Dioceses of Brazil,”the parish council statement said.

Source: Anglican Ink