My Welcome to Mexico

This is the fourth church that I have served in my nearly twenty-five years of ordained ministry.   I think I may finally be getting this right.  Today, I began my first day of ministry as rector of Christ Church in Mexico City in the company of my clergy colleagues, including my bishop, at the cathedral.

La Catedral de San Jose de Gracia is possibly the oldest Anglican building in this hemisphere.  It was built as a convent church in 1661, and through a series of extraordinary circumstances it ended up in the hands of the nascent Anglican community at the end of the 19^th century.  Although it is from the Baroque era, as are many of the Mexican colonial church buildings, the style is more Romanesque – wide arches instead of pointed ones, thick walls, and very small windows.  The exterior, however, does show some of the exuberant decoration of the Baroque period.  Like most of the old buildings in the colonial center of the city, the building is a bit lopsided – floors are not quite level owing to the many earthquakes over the centuries.  (More on this later)

Since I am without my own transportation, I was picked up by one of the priest associates of Christ Church, who took me to the center of the city.  Martha actually grew up at Christ Church, of American parents, so is fully bi-lingual and bi-cultural.  She was full of helpful insights and information about the parish, about the clergy I was about to meet, and about life in general in Mexico.   Traffic in the city can be horrendous, and so we left an hour for travel.  It took less than thirty minutes to arrive at center, so we were the first ones there. 

I actually enjoyed the few moments of quiet which enabled me to take some photos of the interior of the Church. 

Here is the mural above the altar, the baptistry, and a painting of St. Joseph and the child Jesus:

 I was most warmly welcomed by my colleagues, some of whom speak very good English (one priest associate was from Diocese of New York).  They obviously enjoy one another’s company – it was truly a warm fellowship, and several of those whom I met offered ‘whatever I can do to help’.  Another said “Let’s go out for a drink some time.” 

The program for the day began with Holy Eucharist.  I feel so blessed that I was able to fully participate and that I knew the responses – it was actually very moving.  Unfortunately, the sound system was truly terrible – way too much echo for me to understand what was being said so I missed most of the sermon.  But – I thought it quite a lovely coincidence that the Cathedral Dean had chosen to use the propers for St. Joseph’s Day (March19), so it felt like a very special celebration. 

After Eucharist we had coffee (good Anglicans that we are!) in the Parish Hall, and sat down with the Bishop to hear some of his reflections, particularly about liturgy as the group was facing Holy Week.  Bishop Carlos has very specific ideas about liturgy, and what is to be done and what is not to be done.  He managed to be clear and direct about his expectations without being heavy-handed. 

This is my bishop, The Most Rev. Carlos Touche Porter and Fr. Andres, who is the Rector of the Cathedral Parish:

Here are a few other of my colleagues:

As announcements were being made, I suddenly began to feel a bit woozy.  I didn’t sleep too well last night, or so I thought.  The wooziness did not abate; in fact, it got worse.  “Temblor” is the Spanish word for earthquake, and when I heard one of my colleagues utter that word I felt a bit scared. 

Welcome to Mexico, I thought, as I followed the group out onto the patio between the buildings.  It was really shaking and it went on for a long time.  The bishop led us in prayer, especially in prayer for those who would be harmed by the quake.  There was a bit of levity when the shaking stopped and we all went back into the parish hall.  I said to the group, “Thank you for the welcome.  Now I’m going back,” which they thought was terribly funny.  I’ve actually been worried that I would lose my sense of humor in Spanish. 

The speaker for the event was the wife of George, who is the deacon at Christ Church.  She spoke about resistance to change.  (At least that’s what I think the theme was)  She was quite a good and engaging presenter, but my Spanish wasn’t quite up to the task, so I missed a lot of what she was saying.  Much of it had to do with ‘out of the box’ thinking, which sounded odd, at least to my ears, in Spanish. 

Lunch was served.  There were various kinds of tacos and taquitos with salsa, guacamole, salad, and vegetables.  It was quite tasty, and, not surprisingly, very authentic.  I was really touched when one of the ladies who was working in the kitchen asked me to bless the cross she was wearing.

  All in all, a very eventful, very interesting first day.