1 El Pregonero - The Town Crier Diocesan Bulletin #5 February 2014 We share Special moments, during the Christmas and year-end celebrations, Parish of San Agustín de Canterbury, with Fr Tito, the Basquadé work-team and the parish community...
2 News received from the Parish of Espíritu Santo, Malvín Thanks for sharing it with you friends and neighbours... Activities being offered: dancing, yoga, cooking, singing, memory work-shops, games, music, conversation, outings, physiotherapy for the elderly. Advice offered by experienced personnel in hospital care: for family members and the elderly... Fr Alejandro We share a photo of our Bishop Michele s chasuble and stole, which he wore on Sunday, 12th January the Baptism of our Lord As you can see, it has the stamps of children s and adult s hands on the material. It was given to him by the Parish of St. Thomas, Belleville, Canada, where he was their Priest, some years back The little hands, are those of each of the children who were baptized by +Michele. A special way of remembering them and of uniting us across the miles, as part of the Church of Christ and of the wider Anglican Communion.
3 Let us pray for Our Diocesan Bishop +Michele, has been invited to attend a course in Canterbury for new bishops. This is an opportunity for new bishops from around the Anglican Communion to meet one another and to explore what it means to be a diocesan bishop. While he is in England, during the first part of February, +Michele will also be meeting with many of the people who are involved with the Friends of Uruguay, a group that has been helping our Diocese for many years. During +Michele s absence from the Diocese (January 29 to February 18) he has appointed Bp Gilberto to act as Vicar General. The Anglican Church of Uruguay and our mission to be God s instrument in the midst of our society; our clergy and their families and the workers at each Project and their families. For each person who draws near to a Parish / Mission / Project May we be open to welcome every one of them We give thanks for the birth of a son, Juan Francisco, on December 12 th, 2013 to Danilo Sosa (Lay Minister in the Parish of San Pablo, Progreso) and Claudia. We also give thanks for Danilo s recent successful knee surgery. We give thanks for the birth of: Alejandro Rivero Scurra, on January 11 th, 2014. He weighed 4.800 Kgs, measured 53 cms and is the son of one of the mothers who live in IAU Millán a home for mothers and children. This is the third birth within the home, since they opened in 2013. As from this issue of the The Town Crier we share a new section. There are several people who have recently returned to Uruguay. We have asked them to tell us a little about their time abroad and the hopes they have, as part of the Anglican Church in Uruguay...
4 Getting to know each other. **Rev. Dr. Enrique Delgado Illarze, obl. s.b. - Retired Lawyer and Anglican Priest, Professor at the Anglican Seminary in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil and for many years I have belonged to a congregation of Benedictine Oblates, founded in Brazil in 1996 and a member, therefore, of the great world-wide Benedictine family. I ve recently moved back to Uruguay. 1. How long have you been out of Uruguay? I spent 1 year and 4 months in England and 22 years in Brazil 2. What activities / profession were you involved in during that time? Whilst in England, I studied at St. John's, Nottingham; working as a visiting priest in the parishes of St Paul s (Willfordhill) and St John s (Carrington); participating in the diocesan life of Southwell, gaining experience and knowing Anglicanism in its cradle; as well as, taking advantage of travelling around Britain, France, Spain and Portugal, as well as the Holy Land. Thereafter, I moved to Brazil and worked as a cleric in the Southern dioceses (in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and part of the state of Santa Catalina). I spent six years in the South-catarinense area, located in Araranguá City, with responsibilities in 2 parishes and 2 missions. From there, I went to Sierra Gaucha, to a small town called San Francisco de Paula, a parish founded in 1907 and serving a mission in the city of Canela, a major tourist spot. I was there for five years, involved in the life of the city, also being a prison chaplain and doing a Master in Theology at the Lutheran School (EST / San Leopoldo ). I also unwrapped a strong presence in Religious Education ( RE, as it is known in the UK), which according to the Brazilian Law, is an integral part of the school curriculum and is non-denominational and of a non-proselytizing character. In 2003 I was elected to be the pastor of the parish of Ascension, in Porto Alegre, where I remained until my retirement in November 2013. In those ten years I was a teacher at the Anglican Seminary of Porto Alegre; district choir member; editor of the monthly column of the Neighborhood Association of Teresopolis (the neighborhood of the parish); I undertook a post-graduate specialization on Liturgical Space and Art Sacra at the Pontifical University of Rio Grande do Sul; a Doctorate in theology in the area of liturgy ( in the same faculty of expertise ); for 6 years was chairman of the Board of Religious Education in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, with a rich experience in ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, as this Council gathers 12 institutions, namely: 8 Christian Churches and 4 non-christian entities: Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and spiritualists. I was able to travel extensively throughout the State, with courses on anthropology of religion for teachers of the subject; national meetings on the subject; the life of the parish; as well as responsibilities on various diocesan committees : Ecumenism, Liturgy, Religious Education, Religious Art and Architecture and twice was a member of the Board of Chaplains, ultimately examining applicants for Holy Orders before ordination to the diaconate. As a member of the Commission for Architecture I organized three conferences in consecutive years, ecumenically organized by our
5 diocese, on architecture and religious art and in collaboration with the Paulus Library. That also led me to participate in state and national meetings on liturgy, on several occasions. Therefore, having spent a third of my life outside my country, I am now back here, older and tired, more experienced and hopefully also somewhat wiser... 3. Have you always been an Anglican and if not, what brought you into the Anglican Church? I am a late vocation; having been born into a Roman Catholic family and that was my tradition till the age of 16 years. My primary and high school were within a Roman Catholic context. At the age of sixteen, I went thru a crisis of faith and abandoned all religious practice till my mid - twenties. In my twenty-six years as an Anglican priest (I'm the first Uruguayan to be ordained an Anglican priest in 1987), I spent nearly twenty-three and a half years out of my country. 4. How do you see yourself fitting within the Church, here in Uruguay (i.e. Is /are there any gift/s and time you wish to place within the Iglesia Anglicana de Uruguay - IAU)? Thank you for inviting me to answer these questions. I ll try to answer, but the first thing I wish to say is that my proposal is an open proposal, because I think that there are various needs to be fulfilled in sensitive areas in the life of a Church. One of these areas is the area of education / formation and having been a professor at a seminary for many years, I feel I have a responsibility to help in something that I know, and which would be open to everybody. As a retired Priest and Professor, I think I can be of some help in the sacramental life (celebrating during the absence of someone), and especially in theological education and in the establishing of communities (short courses, gatherings, classes within the ITAU.) Once we receive reactions to this questionnaire and the needs of the different communities and the interest (or not) of the people involved, including the Bishop s support, as well as that of the IAU, we should be able to carry out a Project -- something to be done for all the communities (English and Spanish speaking), beginning this year... if God so wishes and we too, do our bit. This is the general framework: 1) What kind of audience: Adults mainly (young people or the elderly) and perhaps some adolescents, who may be interested in the proposed themes. 2) I think the need exists, within the IAU as a whole and why not, perhaps some theme could be of interest to people from other traditions (Methodist, Lutherans?) 3) The possibility of having the aforementioned, in Spanish and English (I'm not the super Englishspeaker, but I have reasonable experience in speaking that language.) 4) Where? Any place. That will depend on how many people could be interested.
6 One example of a subject: Sacredness of time: why Jews and Christians consecrate their time and how this appears even in the Liturgy? What is the purpose and meaning of the Christian Calendar? And we, Anglicans? Other examples: a) The Daily public Prayer in Christendom: origins, development, changes in the Reformation - we Anglicans, and our internal development till the present. b) Liturgical and Public Reading of the Scriptures: the Sunday Cycle and the Daily Cycle. Other subjects can be prepared, in accordance with the needs of the communities. All of this means that we must be open to possibilities. There is good-will on my behalf and I'm ready to meet and listen and see together what can be done, if possible. Are there other people who have a good education (biblical/theological)) and the willingness to share his/her knowledge and to form a team? Fr. Enrique, obl. s. b. What s happening at the Cathedral this summer? Following the Bishop s request that we explore ways of becoming more visible in the community, both Parish Councils have talked about this topic separately and plans are being made to have representatives of both Councils meet to talk about this jointly. To date, the English ministry Parish Council has reached out to local shipping contacts, and advertising is now available, inviting many cruise ship passengers to visit the Cathedral. At the same time, one member of the Spanish ministry has committed to open the Cathedral every day (Monday to Friday), from noon until 2 p.m., to welcome visitors to the Cathedral. (If anyone is interested in assisting regularly with this ministry of welcome, please contact Fr. Marcelo.)
7 Summer-time in Uruguay! A view of Pocitos, one of the beaches in Montevideo -- we ll be posting a different location within the next issues of The Town Crier... giving you an idea of scenes of Uruguay, close to where our parishes / missions / projects may be this particular area/beach is about 8 Kms to the Cathedral, which is located near the Port and within the Old City (Ciudad Vieja), Montevideo. P.S. We encourage you to send us photos of places close to your Parish/Mission/Project -- to El Pregonero s email or Facebook addresses. We receive your news at: elpregoneroiau@gmail.com You ll also find us at: uruguay.anglican.org www.communionanglican.org www.facebook.com/iglesiaanglicanaau www.facebook.com/elpregoneroiau