Alfred Cooper

Alfred Philip "Alf" Cooper (born 1950) is an evangelical Anglican bishop in Chile. He was consecrated as auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of Chile and, after the recognition of the Anglican Church of Chile as an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion in 2018, he continued as auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of Santiago. Cooper served as chaplain to Chilean President Sebastián Piñera during his first term. Early life Cooper was born in Chile to a family of British descent and raised there. He was sent to the U.K. for school and for studies at the University of Bristol. After graduating with a degree in modern languages, Cooper moved to Montserrat to teach secondary school. He went back to London to study for ministry at All Nations Christian College, and returned to Chile to pursue ordained ministry in 1974. That year, he met his future wife, Hilary Barratt, who had grown up on the mission field in a family serving with the South American Mission Society. In 1975, the Coopers began a career of church planting in Santiago as missionaries with SAMS and later the Church Mission Society. Ordained ministry Cooper was ordained to the priesthood in the Province of the Southern Cone of America in 1978. In 1983, the Coopers planted the Church of the Trinity (Iglesia de la Trinidad) in Las Condes, Santiago, where Cooper continues to serve as head pastor. In 2000, Cooper was named a canon of the diocese, and in 2015, he was consecrated an auxiliary bishop.