The Bishop of Nicaragua, the Rt. Rev. Sturdie Downs, has been elected the fifth primate of the Anglican Church in Central America (IARCA) in succession to the Bishop of Guatemala, the Most. Rev. Armando Guerra Soria. Following his election at a meeting of the provincial synod in El Salvador on 31 Jan 2015, Bishop Downs was installed as presiding bishop of the province at a ceremony at St Mark’s Cathedral in Bluefields, Nicaragua on 21 Feb 2015. Born on Corn Island on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast, Bishop Downs was educated at Anglican church schools in Bluefields and trained for the ministry at San Andreas Seminary in Mexico City. Ordained deacon in 1976 and priest in 1978, in 1984 he was elected Bishop of Nicaragua — the first native born Nicaragua to hold that post, and is presently the senior bishop in the Anglican Communion.
