Episcopal Press and News
Ministry in Mexico: A Personal Reflection
Episcopal News Service. July 24, 1980 [80247]
Nancy Howard
Mexico City -- The rain was falling lightly on the orchids and other tropical vegetation as I sat on the porch of the hotel in Fortin de las Flores wondering how I was going to unite the stories of the presentation of the two new suffragan bishops of the Diocese of Central and South Mexico to their people. We were on our way back from the presentation of Claro Huerta in the lush jungles of Veracruz in circumstances very different from those of Roberto Martinez in basically arid, cactus filled Hidalgo.
Suddenly the close, loud whistle of a train burst in on my thoughts. The train -- that was it! The train which connected all the work of the Episcopal Church in Mexico until recent times.
In 1952 the train carried Bishop Jose G. Saucedo, then a priest, on his first trip into the jungles of Veracruz. Leaving the Port of Veracruz at 9 a. m., it usually arrived in Nuevo Morelos anywhere from midnight to 3 a. m., after a journey through intense heat with the windows shut to avoid the swarming mosquitoes. Later trains took Bishop Saucedo to Rio Jaltepec where canoes awaited him for six-hour runs deeper into the interior. Although there still are trains passing through the area, highways and hard dirt roads now are connecting many, but not all, of the Veracruzana communities. Horses are still needed to reach some congregations.
Now, however, it was by car that the three bishops and a group of priests and lay people from Mexico City reached Arroyo Zacate for the formal introduction of Bishop Huerta.
Night was enclosing the village square as the procession from the fiscal's house entered the dusky-rose trimmed white church of San Pedro Apostol. Two softly-hissing butane lamps, aided by candles carried by the women, lighted the interior as the service, called vispera by the people, began with the formal presentation of Bishop Huerta to his people. It marked a new beginning for all as the Suffragan Bishop's previous missionary activities were further to the south on the other side of the mountains.
The church was full of people of all ages. Babies whimpered and were soothed by their families in the Zapotec and Chinantec languages. The younger children crowded around the chancel steps. All faces radiated a quiet pleasure -- the people were in their own long sought-for church with their own bishops and friends.
Next morning the church was again full and indeed, from dawn to dusk daily, it is never empty. Beside it, in the new thatched-roofed, open-sided parish/community hall women and men bustled about preparing the chicken mole feast.
Back at the fiscal's house Marcos Feria was teaching Bob Jones, rector of Christ Church, Mexico City, and here representing the English-speaking part of the church, to read the Gospel in Zapotec. He later read it in Spanish, as he had done in Hidalgo. The people of Arroyo Zacate were delighted and very much enjoyed meeting someone for whom Spanish was also a second language.
Baptisms and confirmations by the three bishops, helping to show the people episcopal unity, followed. These were not the first for Bishop Huerta, for in the week following his consecration he had confirmed close to 150 in the mountains of Acayucan. Bishop Saucedo's homily was delivered precisely as he had advised a young priest from the central plateau to do it -- a simple and direct talk on the story and meaning of St. Peter, beloved patron saint of the village, with translation by Zenobio Lorenzo. After the service a long line formed for episcopal blessings for health and family and for thanksgiving. The day was still overcast with an unusual cool freshness as the visitors finally left for home.
Beginning in the last half of the 19th century it was the train that carried successive bishops to their far-flung congregations throughout this large country. In the northern part of the present diocese the train took them to Sayula or Danu, State of Hidalgo, where they were met with horses, often late on frosty nights, for the journey into Nopala, San Bartolo Ozocalpan, Chapantongo.
It was to the last named town that Bishop Saucedo led another caravan, two weeks before the Veracruz trip, for the presentation of Bishop Roberto Martinez. We passed through Sayula on a newly constructed road into Chapantongo, which was a surprise. Ten years ago the area was moribund, today houses sparkle with fresh paint. The recent arrival of the oil refinery at Tula is making a difference. Also, the sons and daughters who work in Mexico City now return each weekend and are looking after the old homes. Poverty is still very evident, but a new spirit is beginning to pervade the area.
Bishop Martinez' presentation was in the nature of a homecoming. He was born into this land where the green of newly-irrigated patches stands out in contrast to the grey, stone and catus-filled earth which surround them. And he was born into this people who joyfully filled Chapantongo to receive him. The confirmations were his first as Bishop Saucedo led him in initiation. Marco Polo Bravo, son of the vicar Padre Martin, was his first confirmand.
Later, in the vast community center, an Hidalgan banquet was accompanied by local mariachi musicians who were joined in song by the new suffragan and his family.
The diocese of Central and South Mexico now has its episcopal team. Although each bishop has his particular jurisdiction, all three are in the process of visiting all Anglican work in the diocese, with Bishop Jose Saucedo leading the other two and their priests and people into a deeper understanding of their duty as modern-day missionaries in this vast country.
