The Most Rev. Gregory Venables, Bishop of Argentina, has been installed as primate and obispo presidente of the Anglican Church of South America

The Most Rev. Gregory Venables, Bishop of Argentina, has been installed as primate and obispo presidente of the Anglican Church of South America. Elected at the provincial synod on 8 Nov 2016 in Santiago, Chile, the bishops of the dioceses of Northern Argentina, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Chile installed him as archbishop the following day in succession to the Most Rev. Hector “Tito” Zavala, Bishop of Chile. Born in Britain, Archbishop Venables went out to Paraguay in 1978 with the South American Mission Society, serving as headmaster of St Andrew’s College, Asuncion from 1978 until 1989.  He and his family returned to England where he served as Curate in the Parish of Rainham with Wennington in Essex. He returned to South America in 1993 and was consecrated Assistant Bishop of Peru and Bolivia in November of that year. When the Diocese of Bolivia was created in 1995, he was elected its first bishop. He was elected bishop-coadjutor of Argentina in 2000, taking office as diocesan in 2002. In 2001 he was elected presiding bishop of the province serving until 2009. In 2005 he assumed oversight of the Diocese of Northern Argentina and in September 2005 extended his archiepiscopal oversight to the Diocese of Recife after it withdrew from the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil. Archbishop Zavala served as primate for two three year terms between 2010 and 2016, and will serve as vice-primate for the province under Archbishop Venables.

Watch Anglican TV’s interview with Archbishop Venables here: