David Leake

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(born 26 June 1935) was the assistant Bishop in Northern Argentina from 1969 to 1979 when he became diocesan Bishop, and, for the latter part of that post, also

Primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

of the

Southern Cone The Southern Cone (, ) is a geographical and cultural subregion composed of the southernmost areas of South America, mostly south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Traditionally, it covers Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, bounded on the west by the Pac ...

. Born to missionary parents serving in Argentina, he was ordained in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

and began his career with a

curacy A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are ass ...

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

. He was made a deacon at

Michaelmas Michaelmas ( ; also known as the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the Feast of the Archangels, or the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels) is a Christian festival observed in many Western Christian liturgical calendars on 29 Se ...

1959 (20 September) and ordained a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

the Michaelmas following (25 September 1960), both times by Michael Gresford Jones, Bishop of St Albans, at St Albans Cathedral. In 1963 he went to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

where he served the

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

as a

Missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

eventually being appointed to the

episcopate A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

. He was ordained and consecrated a

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

on St Thomas' Day 1969 (21 December) to serve as Bishop in Northern Argentina, assistant bishop of the newly-erected Diocese of Paraguay and Northern Argentina. , in retirement he continues to serve the church as an

honorary assistant bishop An assistant bishop in the Anglican Communion is a bishop appointed to assist a diocesan bishop. Church of England In the established Church of England, assistant bishops are usually retired (diocesan or suffragan) bishops – in which case they ...

in the

Diocese of Norwich The Diocese of Norwich is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Church of England, forming part of the Province of Canterbury in England. Its origins trace back to the early medieval bishopric of See of Elmham, Elmham and Thetford, which were ...

.Diocese of NorwichArchived 29 September 2011
and also serves as a consultant to the Argentine Bible Society specialising in the Toba language translation of the Toba (oeste) New Testament. On retirement he was awarded the honour of Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2003 New Year Honours.

References

1935 births Anglican bishops of Northern Argentina Commanders of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century Anglican bishops in South America 20th-century Anglican archbishops Living people Anglican bishops of Argentina {{Argentina-reli-bio-stub