Anglican Church in Central America

Iglesia Anglicana de la Región Central de América
Primate	Sturdie Downs, Bishop of Nicaragua
Territory	Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Panama
Members	35,000

The Anglican Church in Central America (Spanish: Iglesia Anglicana de la Región Central de América) is a province of the Anglican Communion, covering five sees in Central America.

History

Four of the five dioceses of the Iglesia Anglicana de la Región Central de America were founded by the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Anglicanism was also introduced by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel when England administered two colonies in Central America, British Honduras and Miskitia. In later years, immigrants brought the Anglican Church with them.

Bishop William C. Frey was consecrated as the first missionary bishop of the Diocese of Guatemala in 1967.

By 2008, the Anglican Church in Central America had voted to consecrate women bishops although none of have been consecrated as of yet. By 2013, the Diocese of El Salvador, and possibly others, offered ministries on behalf of and in support of LGBT members.

Sturdie Downs, Bishop of Nicaragua was elected in late 2014 to serve a four-year term of office as primate (2015–2019); he succeeded Armando Guerra, Bishop of Guatemala (2011–2015), who in turn succeeded Martin Barahona, Bishop of El Salvador (2003–2011).

Membership

Today, there are over 35,000 Anglicans out of an estimated population of 30.1 million.

Structure

The polity of the Iglesia Anglicana de la Región Central de América is Episcopalian church governance, which is the same as other Anglican churches. The church maintains a system of geographical parishes organized into dioceses. There are 5 of these, each headed by a bishop:

• The Diocese of Costa Rica
• The Diocese of El Salvador
• The Diocese of Guatemala
• The Diocese of Nicaragua
• The Diocese of Panama

Some countries of Central America are part of other Anglican churches:

• The Anglican Diocese of Belize is part of the Church in the Province of the West Indies
• The Episcopal Diocese of Honduras is part of Province 9 of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America

Worship and liturgy

The Iglesia Anglicana de la Región Central de América embraces three orders of ministry: deacon, priest, and bishop. The Spanish-language version of the Episcopal Church (USA)'s 1979 Book of Common Prayer is used.

Doctrine and practice

See also: Anglicanism and Anglican doctrine

The center of the Iglesia Anglicana de la Región Central de América's teaching is the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The basic teachings of the church, or catechism, includes:

• Jesus Christ is fully human and fully God. He died and was resurrected from the dead.
• Jesus provides the way of eternal life for those who believe.
• The Old and New Testaments of the Bible were written by people "under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit". The Apocrypha are additional books that are used in Christian worship, but not for the formation of doctrine.
• The two great and necessary sacraments are Holy Baptism and Holy Eucharist
• Other sacramental rites are confirmation, ordination, marriage, reconciliation of a penitent, and unction.
• Belief in heaven, hell, and Jesus' return in glory.

Ecumenical relations

Unlike many other Anglican churches, the Iglesia Anglicana de la Región Central de América is not a member of the ecumenical World Council of Churches.

See also

• Cornelius Wilson, Bishop of Costa Rica

Further reading

• Neill, Stephen (1985). Anglicanism. Oxford University Press. 

External links

• Diocesis de El Salvador Website
• Iglesia Episcopal De Panama at the Wayback Machine (archived July 19, 2011)