Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil

Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil

Primate	Bishop Maurício José Araújo de Andrade
Headquarters	Porto Alegre - RS
Territory	Brazil
Members	120,000[1]
Website	http://www.ieab.org.br
Anglicanism Portal

The Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil (Portuguese: Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil) is an ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion that covers Brazil.

Dioceses

Bishop Maurício José Araújo de Andrade, primate of the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil

The province consists of nine dioceses, each headed by a bishop, one of whom is elected as Bispo Primaz (Primate Bishop), currently Revmº. Bispo Dom Maurício José Araújo de Andrade (instituted on 30 July 2006, who serves as Bishop of Brasília).

The thirtieth General Synod of the church, held in July 2006, elected the current primate, elevated Amazonia as the ninth diocese of the province and agreed an experimental plan to group the dioceses and missionary districts of the province into three regions.

Women priests

A substantial proportion of the priests of the province are women, but all the bishops are men. The president of the House of Clergy and Laity for the first time is a lay woman mrs Selma, who was elected at the General Synod for a three year term. The General Secretary of the Church is the Reverend Arthur Cavalcante, also appointed at the General Synod for a three year term.

History

Anglican ministry in Brazil began as a number of chaplaincies catering for expatriate Anglicans in 1810. The first known parish was settled in Nova Lima, State of Minas Gerais in 1834, St. John the Baptist [1]. In 1889, when Brazil formalised the separation of church and state in its constitution, the Anglican chaplaincies began missionary work.

In 1893, the provincial newsletter Estandarte Cristão was first published. To this day it helps keep the widely spread Anglican congregations in touch with each other.

In 1965, the province, which had been under the metropolitan supervision of the Archbishop of Canterbury became autonomous.

Dioceses and Mission Districts

Diocese Anglicana de Brasília (DAB; Anglican Diocese of Brasilia)

• Diocesan bishop – Revmº. Bispo Dom Maurício José Araújo de Andrade (who is also Bispo Primaz – Primate Bishop).
• Area covered – the Brazilian Federal District and the states of Goiás, Tocantins and the west of Minas Gerais.

Diocese Anglicana de Curitiba (Anglican Diocese of Curitiba)

• Diocesan bishop – Revmº. Bispo Dom Naudal Alves Gomes.
• Area covered – the state of Paraná.

Diocese Anglicana de Pelotas

• Diocesan bishop – Revmº. Bispo Dom Renato Raatz.
• Area covered – the town of Pelotas and surrounding coastline in Rio Grande do Sul.

Diocese Anglicana de Recife (Anglican Diocese of Recife)

• Diocesan bishop – Revmº. Bispo Dom Dr Sebastião Armando Gameleira Soares.
• Area covered – the Northeast Region.

Diocese Anglicana de Rio de Janeiro (Anglican Diocese of Rio de Janeiro)

• Diocesan bishop – Revmº. Bispo Dom Filadelfo Oliveira Neto.
• Area covered – the states of Rio de Janeiro (state), Espírito Santo and most of Minas Gerais, where the oldest Anglican church was settled in Nova Lima.

Diocese Anglicana de São Paulo (Anglican Diocese of São Paulo)

• Diocesan bishop – Revmº. Bispo Dom Roger Bird.
• Area covered – the state of São Paulo.

Diocese Meridional (Diocese of Southern Brazil)

• Diocesan bishop – Revmº. Bispo Dom Orlando Santos de Oliveira (who was the Primate Bishop from 2003 to 2006).
• Area covered – the coastal areas of the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, excluding that area in the Diocese of Pelotas.

Diocese Sul-Ocidental (Diocese of South-Western Brazil)

• Diocesan bishop – Revmº. Bispo Dom Jubal Pereira Neves.
• Area covered – the inland areas of the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.

Diocese da Amazônia (Diocese of the Amazon)

• Created on 29 July 2006 from a previous missionary district.
• Diocesan bishop – Revmº. Bispo Dom Saulo Maurício de Barros.
• Area covered – the states of Pará, Amapá, Roraima, Amazonas and Acre.

Distrito Missionário do Oeste (Missionary District of the West)

• Area covered – the states of Rondônia, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul.

References

1. ^ http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/latin-america/brazil/episcopal-anglican-church-of-brazil.html

External links

• Official site (Portuguese)
• Anglican Diocese of Recife (Portuguese)