Icon (Close Menu)

50 Years of Anglican Presence

BUENOS AIRES — A parish’s 50th anniversary is an opportunity to celebrate the church’s history, its mission, and its survival against the odds. For the Anglican Church of St. Michael and All Angels in Martínez, a suburb in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires, its jubilee anniversary brought a festive party, a joint service, and a sermon by Archbishop Gregory Venables. The event also provided an opportunity to reflect on the changing nature of the church in Argentina.

“It’s nice to see how there’s a transition in the community,” the Rev. Brian Williams, rector of St. Michael’s, told TLC. “It started as Anglo Argentines with services in English, and now it’s shifting towards Spanish and younger families.”

Young musicians at St. Michael’s

Williams said the parish was in the middle of this shift. Older English speakers are still numerous in the church, but nearly all newcomers are families and Spanish speakers. The church offers both Spanish- and English-language services; the anniversary service was bilingual but mostly in Spanish, including the archbishop’s sermon.

According to Venables, who also serves as Bishop of Argentina, this transition follows a historical pattern in the Argentine church.

Archbishop Gregory Venables preaches to a capacity crowd at St. Michael’s, Martínez, a suburb of Buenos Aires.

“The Anglican Church in South America, and particularly here in Argentina, is really something God himself has done,” Venables told TLC. He said the church has made many decisions in its 200 years in the country, including the change from Spanish to English services or a shift from rural to urban ministry.

“But it was nearly always clear that God was doing something, and that’s given the Anglican Church in this part of the world its identity.”

Hand-stitched kneelers, contemporary music, and a projected worship order show how old and new blend at St. Michael’s.

That trusting identity, he said, allows high Anglicanism and evangelical worship to coexist within the diocese; people hug each other and are warm, but formality of relationship — knowing one’s role in the larger social order — is also important.

“We like to think of it as the genius of Anglicanism, the ability as Anglicans to be able to adapt within the local culture and maintain the identity of the culture, but at the same time maintain the identity of Anglicanism.”

Matthew Townsend

Matthew Townsend is the former news editor of The Living Church and former editor of the Anglican Journal. He lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Top headlines. Every Friday.

MOST READ

CLASSIFIEDS

Most Recent

Synod Rejects Bishops’ ‘Power Grab’ on Episcopal Elections

The Rev. Lis Goddard claimed that proposals to eliminate the secret ballot, lower the election threshold, and give archbishops an extra vote to break ties amounted to “a massive shift in how we operate, shifting the power dramatically to those who already hold the majority of power.”

USAID Freeze Worsens Sudanese Crisis

“Those who were already dependent on USAID are now in crisis. There’s no food, no medicine. People are dying from cholera and malaria…What are they supposed to do?” asked Lina Ajaak of DC’s South Sudanese Community Association.

Title IV Compromise Leads to Earlier Retirement in Easton

Both cases against Bishop Marray have been dismissed, and he will step down a year earlier than planned, a decision "endorsed" by PB Rowe. 15% of the diocese's congregations will have DEPO for the remainder of his ministry.

Church Joins Suit Challenging ICE Raids

Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe: “We are seeking the ability to fully gather and follow Jesus’ command to love our neighbors as ourselves.”