A SUMMARY REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

by Dick Miner, Junior Warden

Posted October 28, 2008

The Diocese of Utah has established the Anglican Diocese of Mexico as a companion diocese, and is encouraging closer relationships between Mexican parishes and parishes in Utah, especially those with existing or nascent Latino congregations.  Acting upon the recommendation of the Rev. Canon Pablo Ramos, priest-in-charge of Latino Ministries for the diocese, St. Luke’s decided to send a team from its International Missions Planning group to  the Santo Espiritu (Holy Spirit) parish in the Tlalpan section of Mexico City, with the objective of exploring the feasibility of establishing a mutually beneficial relationship between the two congregations.  The team consisted of Judy Hanley, Mary McEntire, Dick Miner, Sharon Sams, Harriet and Roger Stephens, and was accompanied by the Rev. Canon Pablo and his son.  The visit was from Friday, September 5, through Sunday, September 7.  The team was housed at the Anglican Conference Center, adjacent to the Anglican Seminary of Mexico, in the San Angel section of the city about 20 minutes drive from the Holy Spirit parish.

The Holy Spirit Church Building

The church building, built in the 1950’s, is a two-story structure of plaster-coated concrete, behind a high wall (covered with colorful murals) in a busy lower-middle-class neighborhood, apparently close to several hospitals.  The church sanctuary is on the upper floor, and is a very attractive bright worship space, with four stained-glass windows on each side and one more behind the altar.  The seating capacity is probably 125.  Also on the upper floor are a small chapel and toilets.  The lower floor contains a large community meeting hall, with minimal kitchen facilities, more toilets, and several other small rooms.  The building is in need of significant “technical” repair work, especially in the plumbing, electrical wiring, and replastering (both interior and exterior), all of which can be done by local work crews, given the necessary funding.  Once this repair work is done, considerable painting will then be required, probably also by local people, but perhaps with an “assist” from a St. Luke’s work team.

The Holy Spirit  Congregation

We were greeted and welcomed warmly by a large representation of the parishioners of Santo Espiritu, led by their dynamic vicar, the Rev. Pablo Ramirez, the father of our Rev. Canon Pablo. We were all moved by the scope of the vision of Father Pablo, who is also the Dean of the Anglican Seminary.  He has done a great job in rebuilding the congregation in two years from virtually nothing.  He stated that he wants more than a physical reconstruction of the building; he wants a reconstruction of the congregation. Parishioners mentioned his charisma as one of the reasons they stayed at the church.  He is a very thoughtful and moving speaker, as well as a poet. He also spoke of wanting to walk with the parishioners in their mission work in the community.

Currently, the church hosts AA meetings in the community hall three times per week, classes for the seminary students, and a music class one day a week.  For the future, the   congregation hopes to provide outreach to families visiting patients at the hospitals in the neighborhood and to offer a place of prayer and reflection.  There is talk of eventually moving the Seminary next door, to avoid the high property taxes at the current loca-tion.  This is all part of their dream to be more of an outreaching presence in the community.   There are two rooms in the back of the church that could be renovated to serve as rental housing for residents of the hospitals and to enable the church to make some income.

The congregation has all ages, different education backgrounds and only a few people who could speak English.  Similar to our own parish, a large group of women appear to hold leadership positions in the church, including an assisting priest.  They were all very appreciative of our visit and we were impressed and touched by their intentional hospitality!  Even though they spoke another language and their lives are very different from ours, we were moved by the one-ness we felt amongst them.  Although they may lack the financial resources, they obviously do not lack in the spirituality and vision to use their time and talents to reach out to those around them.

OUR RECOMMENDATIONS

Let’s just do it.  The team enthusiastically recommends that St. Luke’s moves forward immediately in further building and strengthening our relationship with the Holy Spirit parish.  We see a good “fit” between the two congregations and much promise of a strong reciprocal ministry in the years ahead.

Give for repairs.  To begin to address the current repair needs of their church building and in appreciation for their recent hospitality, we further propose making an immediate gift to Holy Spirit in the amount of $1,500 with one-third coming from the budgeted amount for International Missions for 2008, and two-thirds from current private gifts.

Get the Diocese on board.  To introduce the Holy Spirit parish to a wider diocesan audience, we have applied to set up a booth at the Diocesan Convention on October 24 and 25, with photos and printed material to he distributed.

Sponsor a seminarian.  We recommend taking whatever steps are necessary to expedite and sponsor a visit next summer by a student from the Anglican Seminary, to help us in our outreach to the Latino community in Park City and to assist in our building of the San Lucas congregation.  Included would be the costs of the visa application, housing, and transportation.

Set up a news exchange.  To open an ongoing channel of communication between our parishes, we recommend that we contact an English-speaking member of Holy Spirit (Teresa?) and suggest that she send us monthly news items and photos about their parish life, with the promise that we would reciprocate with similar news from here.

Learn the language!  We strongly recommend that we explore all possible solutions to overcoming the major barrier to our effective ongoing relationship:  lack of expertise in speaking and understanding the Spanish language.  Solutions could include beginning courses here, on-line training, working with Holy Spirit members, or some combination of these.  Exchange of cultural info might be a motivation for many people.

Get the youth on board.  We recommend opening a dialogue with Russ Britton about ways that his youth group might get involved in the relationship with Holy Spirit.  Possible ideas to explore are an e-mail connection with Mexican youth and a work/cultural exchange trip to Mexico.  Spanish language students might be especially interested.

Raise funds in Advent ’08.  We should begin planning soon for a Holy Spirit fund-raiser in Advent ’08, a la  last year’s Give A Goat campaign.  “Go with the Holy Spirit!”

Plan for future visits.  Work with Holy Spirit to find the best answers for future head-to-head visits.  For what purposes?  Who should go?  When is the best time?

Assist Holy Spirit in local outreach?   Are there ways to support their efforts?