Uruguay Anglicans Feel 'Abandoned,' Ask Leaders to Review Decision Against Transfer to New Province

(Photo Credit: Anglican Diocese of Uruguary)Anglicans in the Diocese of Uruguay celebrate the eucharist at its 31st Extraordinary Diocesan Synod on August 19, 2012

The Anglican diocese of Uruguay – a member of the province of the Southern Cone – has asked global Anglican leaders to review their decision to deny the diocese to transfer to another province.

The Diocese of Uruguay, which has been a part of the cone since 1988, says it feels "abandoned and unsupported" after the Anglican Consultative Council Standing Committee decision, according to a report by the Anglican Journal. The diocese has been seeking to ordain women for more than a decade without success.

The ACC Standing Committee is comprised of Anglican primates and leaders within Anglican Communion from around the world.

Other members of the Southern Cone include the dioceses of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Peru.

The Diocese of Uruguay – which initially asked the ACC for a transfer to the Province of Brazil in July asked the Standing Committee to reconsider its decision, saying it feels "adrift, as if condemned to stay in a province where it doesn't fit." Its previous request to leave the province had also been denied.

The diocese's permanent committee said in a press statement that the ACC committee's suggestions for a way forward only focused on the election of a bishop coadjutor, which the diocese carried out last year.

The diocese noted the election was not ratified by the Province of the Southern Cone. The province rejected for a second time the election of Archdeacon Michael Pollesel, a former general secretary of the Anglican Church of Canada.

The diocese said in its statement that even if it did hold another election, the new bishop's ministry and mission would be constrained by missiological, philosophical and theological differences with the province.

The ACC overlooked differences "and offers no way forward," the report states. The diocese said it "is still being ignored."

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