Anglican primates and provincial secretaries from across the Americas met in São Paulo Aug. 10-12 for a time of prayer, learning, and mutual discernment. The primates in attendance included the Most Rev. Sean Rowe of The Episcopal Church; the Most Rev. Marinez Rosa dos Santos Bassoto of the Anglican Episcopal Church Brazil; the Most Rev. Shane Parker of the Anglican Church of Canada; the Most Rev. Alba Sally Sue Hernández García of the Anglican Church of Mexico; the Rt. Rev. Juan David Alvarado Melgar of the Anglican Church in Central America; the Most Rev. Brian Williams of the Anglican Church in South America; and the Most Rev. Phillip Wright of the Church of the Province of the West Indies. They offered the following joint statement at the end of their gathering: 

Grace and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We, as primates serving God’s people in the Anglican Communion provinces of the Americas, met in São Paulo from 10 to 12 August 2026, at the invitation of our regional primate, the Most Rev. Marinez Rosa dos Santos Bassotto. We prayed together, learned from one another and discerned how we are called to participate in God’s mission. For the first time, we gathered alongside the secretaries of our respective provinces, and we are grateful for their ministry and companionship.

We give thanks to God for the gift of our communion, which we receive as the Body of Christ. At this meeting, we strove to embody that gift as we spoke honestly and with hope about the realities of ministry in our contexts and sought to enter one another’s realities. Meeting in Brazil, where Indigenous peoples are stewards of the Amazon and faithful voices in the struggle for climate justice, we affirmed the dignity and rights of Indigenous peoples whose ancestral lands span the Americas.

Although we are from richly diverse provinces, we share the experiences of living in cultures shaped by forces that call us to action, including colonialism, secularism, polarization, migration concerns, economic and social insecurity, corruption and climate change.

Our Anglican tradition teaches us to find unity in service to God’s mission, and we pledge to work together with mutual accountability and hope for the people of our provinces. We leave this gathering with the conviction that we have begun a new chapter in our life together in Christ.

We return home with joy and thanks for what we have shared, which has been profoundly good, and for the fruit that it will bear across the Americas.

São Paulo, Brazil – August 12, 2026
 
Primate Marinez Rosa dos Santos Bassoto – Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil and Regional Primate
Primate Shane Parker – Anglican Church of Canada
Primate Juan David Alvarado Melgar – Iglesia Anglicana de la Region Central de America
Primate Alba Sally Sue Hernández García – La Iglesia Anglicana de Mexico
Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe – The Episcopal Church
Primate Brian Williams – Iglesia Anglicana de Sudamerica
Primate Phillip Wright – The Church in the Province of the West Indies