Some staff at the Centro de Estudios Teológicos de San Andrés (St. Andrew’s Center for Theological Studies) in the Guadalajara area say that mainline Protestant denominations could be poised on the brink of an increase of interest among Mexicans as alternatives to Roman Catholicism and a concomitant increase in the means to educate new clergy.
Heralding these possibilities, an Episcopal seminary in Austin, Texas, opens a Spanish-language program in October that is aimed at ordaining new priests. This program at the Seminary of the Southwest piggybacks on a 10-year-old Lutheran program in Spanish. Divinity students will meet at the Austin campus four times a year in intensive sessions and may take some classes in Mexico City.
“People are realizing that with the fast growth of the Hispanic sector we need to train more clergy,” said James Priddy, an Episcopal professor at the local center, CETSA, and rector at St. Mark’s Anglican/Episcopal Church in Guadalajara.
CETSA director Ricardo Gómez, an Anglican priest and teacher at the center, noted that the local seminary currently has 14 students — seven at a distance and seven who attend classes — and that students who are ordained are very likely to be placed in congregations.
“But if we want to develop more — and it’s possible — we need more students.”Priddy added that he believes that the growing middle class of Mexico is fertile ground for mainline Protestantism.
While in recent times, notable inroads in winning Mexicans from Roman Catholic backgrounds have been made by Pentecostals and other charismatic groups, mainline Christians, especially Anglicans, have a well established presence in Mexico dating back more than a century.
“St. Andrews seminary was founded by [U.S.] Bishop Henry Aves in the early 20th century,” said Manuel Sonora, an Anglican priest in Guadalajara. After the theological institution was moved to Mexico City in the 1960s, Sonora got permission in 2005 to restart it as CETSA in the same building in Colonia Seattle.
“At first, we had six students,” he said.
“There’s an opportunity for Anglicans in Mexico due to a great history here and the fact that we’re rooted in a liturgy that is so similar to Roman Catholic,” Priddy said. “In fact, many people say they can tell no difference between our liturgy and the Roman Catholic.”
The Anglican Church in Mexico boasts five dioceses with numerous congregations in each diocese, while other mainline Protestants claim far fewer. Still, the prospects of Anglicanism in Mexico are suffering due to a drying up of support from the Episcopal Church in the United States. However, the plans for training new clergy could help improve growth.
Gómez seems positive about the future. “We Anglicans are committed to the culture of life, and not the culture of death that now controls our society. I mean drugs, alcohol, poverty, infidelity,” he explained.
Gómez is a third generation Anglican clergyman and his brother is also an Anglican priest. The experiences of his relatives, although arduous, may have inspired him to greater levels of determination.
“My grandfather was murdered in the Cristero era,” he said. “He was liberal and was against established Roman Catholicism.” After giving a Bible class in Tlajomulco, south of Guadalajara, he was killed while locking up the building.
Priddy said there is a history of martyrdom by Anglicans in Mexico that should be remembered and celebrated. “There were a number of instances of martyrdom and today they are practically unknown,” he said, adding that the dedication of these early, Mexican Anglicans should be inspirational.
CETSA is in Zapopan in Colonia Seattle near San Jorge and Paulino Navarro. (33) 3560-4726.