St. Paul’s Anglican Church
On Friday June 3 the Right Reverend Alba Sally Sue Hernández Garcia, Anglican Bishop of the Diocese of Mexico, ordained four new deacons: the Reverend Deacon Jorge Antonio Diaz Murrillo, the Reverend Deacon Antonio Pachecho Gómez, the Reverend Deacon Adrian Ismael Cajiga, and the Reverend Deacon Miguel de Jesús Rangel Hernández, at a bilingual Mass at St. Paul’s Anglican Church.
The Anglican Church in Mexico is organized as a Province of the Anglican Communion and is comprised of five dioceses. The Most Reverend Enrique Treviño, Primate, is the senior most Anglican leader of the Province of Mexico. St. Paul’s is one of the forty missions and parishes belonging to the Diocese of Mexico led by Bishop Alba Sally Sue Hernández-Garcia and based in Mexico City.
The Anglican Church in Mexico traces its roots to the excommunication of several politically liberal Roman Catholic priests who supported the new Mexican Constitution (finally adopted in 1857). At that point in time, the Roman Catholic hierarchy supported Spanish efforts against Mexican Independence, and purged clergy sympathetic to independence. The excommunicated priests subsequently sought a relationship with the Archbishop of Canterbury in England and the Anglican (Episcopalian) Church in the United States, with whom they are now affiliated.
The Anglican Province of Mexico became an autonomous province within the Anglican Communion in 1995, electing its first primate archbishop. The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian expression in the world (80 million members) following the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. We are considered a “bridge church” retaining all ancient Creeds, sacraments and liturgies, yet open to innovations such as the introduction of married clergy and female deacons, priests and bishops.
The Bishop of the Diocese of Mexico is the first female bishop within the Province of Mexico.
One of the newly ordained deacons, the Reverend Deacon Miguel de Jesús Rangel Hernández, will continue serving at St. Paul’s, and is expected to be ordained a priest at year’s end. A San Miguel native, Deacon Rangel lives locally with his wife and two children, and has many family members in San Miguel. His duties at St. Paul’s encompass both the English and Spanish language masses and events, assisting the Rector, the Reverend Canon George F. Woodward III who arrived in San Miguel from the Diocese of Los Angeles in 2018.
St. Paul’s church is an active and varied parish. The primary Sunday English language Mass is at 10:15am, with the primary Spanish language Mass at 12am. All are welcome.
