The Rt. Rev. Henry Scriven, a former assistant bishop in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, will retire Dec. 31 as Church Mission Society’s Latin America mission director.
Scriven is also a former suffragan Bishop in Europe for the Church of England. He was ordained in 1975. After serving a curacy in Wealdstone, North London, Scriven moved to northern Argentina with the South American Missionary Society.
He served for a time in the Diocese of Arkansas, then moved to Spain, where worked with SAMS in the Iglesia Española Reformada Episcopal Cómmunion Anglicana (the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church) and then as chaplain for St. George’s Anglican Church in Madrid.
He joined to CMS in 2009 as SAMS and the Church Mission Society prepared to merge.
“For a long time, missionary societies in the U.K. have been sending missionaries to South America with the belief that we, as Westerners, had something to give them,” Bishop Scriven said. “While CMS continues to send missionaries to the region, we do so now with the understanding that our people are going as facilitators, complementing the work of our local partners who are already based in South America.”
“Bishop Henry Scriven has been a wonderful friend and colleague to us all in CMS, and will be sorely missed,” said Philip Mounstephen, executive leader of CMS. “He has overseen the very successful merger with SAMS with great skill and with his characteristic charm. He has set us a wonderful example of prayerful, joyful godliness, and his servant-heartedness has been evident to all.”
Bishop Scriven is married to Catherine, a teacher, and they are parents to Anna and Joel.
After his retirement, the Scrivens will travel to Thailand where he will spend six months as assistant chaplain at Christ Church Bangkok.
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
