Viviendo la Identidad Anglicana

November 2007
I traveled with my "comadre" Kathy Albree to Oaxaca, Mexico, to visit the Rev. Mary Ann Garrett, a VIA trainee (2003 Vera Cruz) who is the priest-in-charge of Holy Trinity Anglican Church in that city. Mary Ann had invited us to see her work in the men's and women's prison of Oaxaca, and to visit her congregation in her home.

 Mary Ann is also involved with several Anglican parishes in San Cristóbal (Chiapas) and Yochib, among other small towns where the men may speak Spanish but the women only speak Tzeltal or other indigenous languages. This presents a challenge, as we'd like to take VIA to those congregations.

We were also thrilled to meet up with a couple at Mary Ann's house-church who run the library at the nearby Wycliff Bible Translators compound at Mitla--they were interested in helping us meet this challenge by translating parts of the LOC and VIA materials into Tzeltal!

It was the Day of the Dead while we were there--October 31-November 2--and we were honored to take part in this traditional Mexican celebration of the return of the souls of the faithful departed to their homes. We collected a group of friends and cleaned and decorated a grave in the Panteón Central (Central Cemetery), with "cempazuchitl" (marigolds) and "cresta de gallo" (cock's comb) and gladiolas. Some curious Mexican locals stopped by and took part in our prayer service, then we toasted our "stone guest" with mezcal and Kahlua.