Feb 11, 2022
This past weekend, I had the beautiful opportunity to visit our former seminarians Adrian and Antonio in Hidalgo. Bryan and I took the bus from Terminal Norte to Las Maravillas, Hidalgo, where Adrian met us. There, we met the first of five different Anglican faith communities Adrian and Antonio have been supporting spiritually and reinvigorating over the past year. Each community is at least 15-20 minutes away from the others, with the community of Humini requiring a rural drive of approximately 45 minutes from Adrian and Antonio’s home in Chapantongo. This means that between Thursday and Friday every week, Adrian and Antonio cover a couple of hundred kilometers by car!
Each community has a beautiful church built during an epoch of great evangelistic zeal and spiritual engagement in our diocese, but the properties have not been well-maintained in recent decades; many of them need considerable repair, especially of their roofs. One extraordinary property of dozens of acres in Nopala, with a gorgeous vista of the surrounding terrain, was formerly a primary school. A preschool presently resides in the once-rectory of the campus, but the rest of the property lies deserted.
Adrian and Antonio invited me to preach and preside at each community, using the liturgy of the Día de la Candelaria, which meant that we enjoyed several rounds of tasty tamales and atole in a 24-hour period.
Throughout the weekend, I was awed and inspired by:
• the relationships Adrian and Antonio have cultivated in each community;
• the loving and enthusiastic way they have embraced the hassle of driving many kilometers, carting their supplies to and from each location; vesting and re-vesting; and establishing sound financial stewardship with worship participants;
• the young families and children/youth they have engaged through Vacation Bible Schools
• the dreams they have for maximizing the potential of each property for the communities’ wellbeing and growth.
The vestry and I have decided that Christ Church will continue to support Adrian and Antonio financially, in collaboration with the diocese, at least through 2022 or until they become ordained and become eligible for a diocesan clergy stipend. We hope to partner with Adrian and Antonio in other ways, too, so watch for upcoming ways to participate!