At St. Mark’s Anglican Church in Guadalajara, Jim Priddy has been selected as pastor, after a search lasting about six months, and the Priddys are in the process of relocating from the Chapala area, where Jim was involved at St. Andrew’s Church, to Guadalajara.
Ever since the search process began and Priddy started serving at St. Mark’s as a temporary priest, his wife Sue and grandson Devon, who lives with the couple, have accompanied Priddy to Guadalajara every Sunday. Devon helps out as an acolyte and Sue Priddy has worn multiple hats, including flower arranger, bulletin maker, seamstress and baker.
“My family is very involved in my work as a priest,” said Jim Priddy.“Sue is so nice and she’s really smart,” said St. Mark’s choir director Debbie Rodriguez, referring to Sue’s earlier career in economic development and the help she gives her husband in his pastoral duties.
Devon, who is 15, also has long been very involved in Jim’s religious activities, said Sue Priddy.
“Jim and I were co-chairs of the Regalorama [charitable garage sale in the Chapala area] for four years and Devon was co-co-chair. He’s been a big part of what we did at St. Andrews. In fact, I think they’ll miss Devon most.”
Jim Priddy said he has long believed that, in accordance with the way that early Christians organized themselves, “there are three legs to a church.
“There’s kerygma, which in Greek meant the word, or preaching and teaching. Then there is fellowship, or koinonia, which can be translated as communion and in the early church meant literally sharing meals. And there is also outreach, or doing good, which was called diakonia. Deacons originated to take care of this type of service, which means taking care of widows and so on.
“Outreach gives a church a sense of purpose,” he continued. “It brings people together and adds a great deal of power to the group. It makes people happy.”
“It’s reaching out and helping people who need it,” Sue Priddy chimed in. “A very important part of outreach is that it helps us bond as members of a church family.”
“At St. Andrews, Devon was involved in leading children’s activities,” she said. “We’d do a craft and a related explanation. At St. Mark’s, I’d like to see us get activities going for children and other things that bring attention to our church, like the blessing of animals, and show that we’re alive.
“There are a lot of small things we can do. And when you take them together, they add up to a lot,” she said.