Our history begins in 1991 when (The Rev.) John Hayes moved to Cancun from Monterrey, Nuevo León in the Diocese of Northern Mexico. At that time the five states of southeastern Mexico´s Yucatan Peninsula were not part of any organized diocese.
On the first Sunday of Advent we began holding public worship services in the Hotel Marriott Casa Magna Cancun. The hotel's manager, Manuel Ovias and his family were the first members of the congregation.
During the following year, Father Hayes organized the congregation and had it accepted as an "Organized Mission" of the Diocese of Southeastern Mexico, although the borders of that diocese were located some 700 miles to the west.
In 1994 the General Convention of the Episcopal Church (USA) gave the Mexican Church permission to withdraw to form a new autonomous province of the world-wide Anglican Communion. When the Anglican Church of Mexico held its first General Synod, Father Hayes and Mrs. Ann McLemore were 2 of the 6 delegates representing the Diocese.
The congregation grew slowly in Cancun, but from the very beginning, we have also held services in other locations in the Cancun area during the "high season" from December to Easter. Some years these were in Playa del Carmen and Puerto Aventuras, others they were in Puerto Morelos.
In 1996 Mrs. Ann McLemore and Mrs. Kimberley Fleitz de Duarte began attending a four year seminary program in Texas; they were ordained deacons in 1999 and ordained as priests in 2000.
Beginning in February 2000, Father Hayes started holding services in Mérida, Yucatan. That work resulted in the founding of St. Marks Anglican Church. When diocesan Bishop Benito Juárez came to Cancun to ordain the two deacons to the priesthood, he asked that Father Hayes continue with his work in Merida until a full time priest can be found for St. Marks, so the Rev. Ann McLemore and the Rev. Kimberley Fleitz shared the load attending to the needs of the Cancun chaplaincy. When the Rev. McLemore took a job in the U.S., Fr. Hayes returned as Vicar.
The priests on our ministry team have always donated their time to the work of the church as unpaid volunteer clergy. This has allowed us to utilize our income for the work that we are able to perform with the resources available to us.
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"Padre John" received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University in 1968. After serving as a Naval Aviator in the Marine Corps he moved to Monterrey, N.L., in northern Mexico. While working as an engineer manufacturing heavy duty cranes and hoists, he "read for orders" and was ordained in the Episcopal Church in 1987. While living in Monterrey, Padre John served Holy Family Episcopal Church as part of a ministry team made up of three non-remunerated clergy. In 1991 he moved to Cancun to begin a commercial aquaculture operation. Soon afterwards he initiated public worship services in the Hotel Marriott Casa Magna Cancun, ... "and the rest is history". |