Church Visit Report

Report on Latino Church Visit

I visited the Iglesia Episcopal Anglicana Nuestra Sra De Guadalupe (http://hometown.aol.com/rhaje/iglepisgpe1.html) in San Jose California for their Sunday morning mass. The church is located in downtown San Jose, right by St. James Park and the light-rail line. The congregation meets in the Trinity Cathedral (http://www.trinitysj.org/) which claims to be the oldest such building in California and is home to an English speaking, Episcopal congregation.

I observed and learned in two ways, first as an observer and secondly in talking with some of the congregation after the service. The entire service was in Spanish, so my ability to observe was limited to the nonverbal. My first observation was that the service began on stereotypical “Latin American time,” about ten minutes late. I was also struck by the number of small children and young families: almost every pew had a baby carrier or toddler. The service was marked by a sort of porousness as people came and went through almost every door throughout the whole mass. This informality was striking in contrast to the formality and structure of the liturgy. I observed that the congregation was able to enjoy symbolism, structure and liturgy without reverting into rigid formality. In contrast to most Anglo Roman Catholic or Episcopal services I have attended this service was full of life and joy.

My wife commented that it was inspiring to see the Eucharist celebrated with such joy. The term “celebrate” is always used in conjunction with the Lord’s Supper, but many churches do it in a somber and solemn way. This congregation actually smiled as they “celebrated” the sacrament. The music lent itself to this atmosphere, strongly rooted in Mexican folk music with lively guitar and accordion accompaniment.

After the service I talked with a few people, and was eventually pointed towards one of the founders of the parish. The man was an Anglo who had spent several years as a missionary to Mexico before returning to his native San Jose and starting an Episcopal Latino congregation in 1994. His adopted son (born in Mexico) served as the priest early on, and is presently a church planter. The congregation quickly grew from a few families to over 1000 members. I was told that about half the congregation were Anglicans from Mexico, while the other half were brought into the Anglican church through evangelism.

Many of the folks in the congregation say the Episcopal Church is what they were always looking for but didn’t know existed. It has the liturgy and symbolism they are familiar with and love, but is more open to liberation theology, social justice, and family planning than the traditional Roman Catholic Church. I was told that there is a saying in Mexico, “I’ll become Catholic when the Pope will support my 14 children.” I was told (since I could not understand the homily) that the sermons consistently deal with liberation theology and the social gospel.

The congregation was actively working to overcome Anglo domination of Latinos. I was told that the greatest gift the English speaking Episcopal congregation gave the Spanish congregation was not telling them how to do church. It was also clear in how the celebrant (an Anglo due to the dearth of ordained Latino priests) deferred to the Latino leader (presently in seminary to be ordained). The celebrant visibly deferred to the Latino leader, stepping in only at the point of breaking the bread. Even without speaking Spanish I could see that the Anglo priest was consciously subordinating himself to the non-ordained Latino leader.

The culture of family as opposed to the Anglo culture of individualism was also a key part of the church and its practices. I was told that early on many Anglo churches pressured them to do house groups, because that is the accepted method of church planting among Anglos. They found that it did not work in the context of Mexican immigrants because the house, family and church work in profoundly different ways there. For Mexicans, ones family is one’s house group, the branch of the church at home. What they found did work was to have families sponsor mass in their homes around Lent, because this drew in extended family. Once one couple began coming to church, their family often followed, but it was in the church that they extended ties beyond the family, not in house groups.