The Bishop of Chile, the Rt. Rev.Hector Zavala, has been elected as the next Primate of the Province of the Southern Cone, succeeding Bishop Gregory Venables. Zavala was suspended from full membership on the Inter Anglican Standing Commission on Unity Faith and Order (IASCUFO) because the Province has allowed bishops to cross provincial boundaries to support break away churches in the Episcopal Church.
The Anglican Communion News service reports:
The tenth Synod of the Province of the Southern Cone of America, meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 1-5 November, 2010, has elected Bishop Hector “Tito” Zavala of Chile as its next Primate replacing Bishop Gregory Venables. Bishop Zavala becomes the province’s first Primate of Chilean extraction. The role of Primate is a three year renewable term in the Cone.
Bishop Venables is not retiring, but will maintain his present position as Bishop of Argentina and Northern Argentina.
Canon Kenneth Kearon acted to suspend Zavala’s membership because Venables did not respond to an inquiry from the Anglican Communion Office as to whether the Province of the Southern Cone would still send Bishops to breakaway parishes in the Episcopal Church.
The press contact named on the release describing the election was Bishop Frank Lyon, Bishop of Bolivia, another bishop who has crossed borders.
In other Southern Cone news, voting by orders, the Synod turned down a measure that would have allowed for the ordination of women in the Province as a local option. Episcopal Life OnLine says that “the changes, which required a two-thirds majority in all three houses, were approved by the bishops and laity, but not by the clergy.”