Behind the Name
Every month, StOM prints the Anglican Calendar of Prayer, but have you
ever thought about what or who lies behind the name and place specified
every Sunday?
In each issue, we will feature some information about some of the
people/places for whom your prayers are being asked.
The Rt. Rev. Julio Murray
Thompson is an Executive
Committee Member, Latin American
and Caribbean Council of Religious
Leaders - Religions for Peace and the
President of the Latin American
Council of Churches (CLAI) as of
January 2001. He has also been
serving as the Vice – President of the
Chamber of Bishops of the Anglican
Church of Central America since April
2002.
He studied at the University of
Panama and went on to theological
Studies at the Latin American Biblical
Seminary in San José Costa Rica; at the Universidad Nacional de Heredia
and finally at the Latin American Biblical University in San José, Costa Rica.
After his ordainment, Bishop Murray developed his pastoral ministry at the
Cathedral of San Lucas, the Church of San Isidro Labrador and the Church
of Santa María Virgen in Arraiján from 1988-1990. From 1990 until 1997, he
also served as rector of the four Episcopalian congregations in the province
of Bocas del Toro, seeing the population through the difficult period following
the 1991 earthquake. Near the end of 1997, he was named Canon of the
Cathedral of San Lucas. He was elected Diocesan Bishop in a Special
Convention on May 20, 2000.
Bishop Murray has represented the Episcopal Church of Panama as
delegate to the Provincial Synod of the Central American Anglican Church
and as delegate to the General Conventions of the Episcopal Church held in
Philadelphia, Indianapolis and Phoenix. He has also collaborated with the
youth ministry of the Episcopal Church of Panama as a member of the
Reflection Committee of the National Pastoral Youth Council and as
chaplain in summer camps and youth gatherings.
A prolific writer, he is the author of The Episcopal Church and the Family,
and The History of Anglicanism in Costa Rica, among others.
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