A group of seven students from Guadalajara, Lakeside and Puerto Vallarta just embarked on an Anglican/Episcopal “Diaconal Formation Program” in English that will last through August 2026.
The first in-person session was given on Saturday at St. Mark’s Anglican Church in Guadalajara. Other Saturday sessions may be given at St. Andrew’s at Lakeside. This will help accommodate the home locations of the students and faculty, who are divided between Guadalajara, Lakeside and Puerto Vallarta. Two students, Maria Ammerman and Marylou Murray, travel from Christ Church in Puerto Vallarta.
The program’s two principal organizers, Rev. Sarah Shirley and Rev. Dr. Betty Creamer are both based at Lakeside, where they have roles at St. Andrew’s. Shirley, who came to the area at the beginning of the year to be St. Andrew’s rector, said she is enthusiastic about the course. It will take advantage of and develop English-speaking clergy in the area and offer training over and above what is normally offered to prospective deacons here.
“Before, the program was reading 12 books on your own, but now we’re doing live lectures, readings, monthly in-person all-day seminars about liturgical practice, and field education in a hospital, school, and so on,” Shirley noted. “This is a normal theological education in many parts of the world—usually a three-year graduate course.”
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