WHO WE ARE

As a national church, we are part of a family worldwide; called the Anglican Communion.

We assume the Creed of the Apostles, as a baptism symbol, and the Nicene Creed, as a sufficient declaration of the Christian Faith.

We are a HOLY CHURCH because the Holy Spirit dwells in it by animating it, guiding it and supporting it.

We are a CATHOLIC CHURCH because we follow the Catholic tradition in our worship, which we have inherited since time from our Apostolic Fathers and because our Church is Universal and inclusive, which proclaims all faith to all peoples, until the end of time. Christians of all races, languages, cultures, countries and ideas are Anglicans.

We are an APOSTOLIC CHURCH that has kept in the ordination of its ministers the Apostolic Succession from Jesus Christ and has maintained the Doctrine and Worship from the Primitive Church

STRUCTURE

The highest authority of the Anglican Church of Mexico is the General Synod, presided over by Bishop Primate, and made up of all the Bishops in active service and clerical and lay delegates representing all dioceses.

There is a National Executive Council made up of representatives of the five dioceses, and each of them, in turn, holds an annual Diocesan Synod to establish the policy and action of the Church in that jurisdiction.

Diocese of Mexico: It includes Mexico City and the states of Hidalgo, Mexico, Puebla, Michoacán, Querétaro and Guanajuato.

Diocese of the North: Includes the states of the Northeast of the country.

Diocese of the West: It includes the states of Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Colima and those of the North Pacific.

Diocese of Cuernavaca: Includes the states of Morelos and Guerrero.

Diocese of the Southeast: It includes the states.

Map of dioceses of Anglican Church of Mexico (Green: Northern; Red: Western; Yellow: Southeastern; White: Mexico; Blue: Cuernavaca)

HISTORY

The arrival of the Anglican Church in Mexico dates back to the mid-nineteenth century when British and American citizens who had come to work in the mining and railway industry, requested the celebration of Anglican services in English.

The first of these was held in Mexico City on December 25, 1869, and in 1982 “Christ Church” was organized, the first Anglican parish in the capital and throughout the Mexican Republic. From 1884, English-speaking churches were founded in other cities and in 1904 they were all gathered in the Missionary District of Mexico, later known as the Diocese of Mexico established in the same year and which covered the entire national territory.

It is important to note that our church did not come to Mexico to fight the Roman Catholic Church, nor to proselytize among its members; but to attend to its own parishioners who were totally isolated and devoid of any pastoral and sacramental ministry.

On the other hand, when the Reform Laws and the Political Constitution of 1857 were promulgated, which, among other things, established religious freedom and total separation between the Church and the State, a small group of Mexican priests belonging to the Roman Catholic Church, who would later be known as the “Constitutionalist Fathers” decided to publicly support and defend these laws, which caused their ex This was organized from 1861, and in 1872 it took the name of “Church of Jesus” and later that of “Mexican Episcopal Church” From its inception, this church came into contact with Anglicanism through the Church in the United States of America, and in 1875 a formal relationship of intercommunication and collaboration was established between the two. This led the Mexican church, then independent and isolated, to get to know the Anglican tradition more closely, and to later decide to fully integrate into it.

This integration was carried out in 1906, when Mexican priests and parishioners were received as part of the Missionary District of Mexico, by the Revdmo. Hendy D. Birds, the first bishop of the same. This resulted in our Church becoming mostly Mexican and Spanish-speaking as it is until today.

In 1931, the Revdmo was consecrated. Efraín Salinas y Velasco, who was the first Mexican Bishop and the first Spanish-speaking in the entire Anglican Communion.

With the consecration of the Revdmo. José G. Sauced in 1958, a phase of expansion and consolidation of the work of the Diocese began, which would lead in 1972 to the decision to divide it into three: Central and South, based in Mexico City; North with headquarters in Monterrey, and West based in Guadalajara. In 1989, the Diocese of the Center and South was subdivided and from it the dioceses of Cuernavaca and the Southeast were created, the latter with headquarters in Jalapa.

The Mother Diocese, based in the Mexican capital, has reformed its original name of Diocese of Mexico.

The 1992 Constitutional Reform gave legal personality to churches and other religions, so our church now has the legal status of “Religious Association”, which allows it greater freedom of action and offers it new possibilities for mission, testimony and service.

As of January 1, 1995, the five Mexican dioceses became an Autonomous Province within the Anglican Communion. This implies full authority to govern their internal life within the theological, liturgical and practical framework of Anglicanism.

As a result of its new legal situation before the Mexican State, and its new canonical situation before the Anglican Communion, our church has officially adopted the name of “Anglican Church of Mexico”.

His highest authority is the General Synod, presided over by Bishop Primate, and made up of all the Bishops in active service and clerical and lay delegates representing all dioceses.

The current Anglican Church of Mexico represents the union of the two sources that gave rise to it. This reality shows that although our church, like the Roman Church in the 16th century, came from another part of the world, it is by no means a foreign church and alien to the Mexican mentality, but quite the opposite. A church with which our people are able to fully identify, without having to give up their historical and cultural roots.

WHAT WE BELIEVE

We believe in the Christian faith as it is found in the canonical books of the Holy Scriptures and summarized in the Catholic or Ecumenical Creeds, which were accepted by all Christendom, that is, The Creed of the Apostles, The Nicene Creed and the Creed of St. Athanasius.

In a very summarized way, we believe in:

We believe in a Triune God; God the Almighty Father and in his only Son Jesus Christ our Lord and in the Holy Spirit who comes from the Father and the Son and who receives the same adoration and glory with them. And they are not three Gods but one.

We believe in the forgiveness of our sins and reconciliation with our Lord, who waits lovingly for us to return to Him.

We believe in the Church that is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic.

We believe that it is our duty to proclaim with example and the word the Good News of God in Christ our Lord and to seek and serve him in all people, loving our neighbor as ourselves, so we declare ourselves in favor of peace and justice among all peoples and respect for the dignity of every human being.

We therefore believe in the full equality of men and women, so we do not find arguments that prevent the ordination of women to the priesthood. That is why our clerics are women or men committed to their pastoral mission.

We believe that in the continuation of the Sacrament of the Eucharist or Holy Communion, we are all invited if we approach each other with a sincere and willing heart. And we celebrate it by sharing the bread and wine, that is, every person who comes to receive communion, eats the host or bread and drinks the wine, the Body and the Blood of Christ.

CREED OF THE APOSTLES

I believe in God the Almighty Father,

Creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

It was conceived by the work and grace of the Holy Spirit.

And was born of the Virgin Mary.

He suffered under the power of Pontius Pilate.

He was crucified, killed and buried.

He went down to hell.

On the third day, he was resurrected from the dead.

He went up to heaven,

And he is sitting at the right hand of God the Father.

From there he has to come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

The holy Catholic Church,

The communion of the saints,

The forgiveness of sins,

The resurrection of the body,

And Life everlasting. Amen.

(Common Prayer Book, pp. 59-60).

NICENE CREED

We believe in one God,

Almighty father,

Creator of heaven and earth,

Of everything visible and invisible.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

The only son of God,

Born of the Father before all ages:

God of God, Light of Light,

True God of the true God,

Begotten, not created,

Of the same nature as the Father,

By whom everything was done;

That for us

And for our salvation

He came down from the sky:

By the work of the Holy Spirit

He became the body of Mary, the Virgin,

And he became a man.

For our sake, he was crucified.

In the time of Pontius Pilate:

He suffered and was buried.

He was resurrected on the third day, according to the Scriptures,

He went up to heaven

And he is sitting to the right of the Father.

It will come with glory again.

To judge the living and the dead,

And his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit,

Lord and giver of life,

That comes from the Father and the Son,

That with the Father and the Son

Receives the same adoration and glory,

And that he spoke for the prophets.

We believe in the Church,

Who is a, holy, Catholic and apostolic.

We recognize a single Baptism

For the forgiveness of sins.

We are waiting for the resurrection of the dead

And the life of the future world. Amen.

(Common Prayer Book, pp. 280-281).

OUR SHIELD

The official logo of our Church is made up of a shield that has a green frame as a liturgical color of the Divine Trinity and that also symbolizes hope. In the center is the cross of St. George in red that first reminds us of all of our Christian origin and our mission and ministry, but also reminds us of our Anglican origin, since the same cross is in the center of the coat of arms of the Anglican Communion.

In addition, these colors, green, white and red, are the Patriotic colors that give us a Mexican identity, so that as a whole our shield represents a Mexican and Anglican Church.

Our logo is similar to that of the Episcopal Church of the United States (ECUSA), to which we belonged in the last century as part of its IX Province.

In the left corner there are five crosses that represent the five Dioceses that we have in our country.

Amen 🙏