TLDR: I knew about Fr. Naty for ten years before I had the opportunity to meet him and to invite him to join us at Saint Dunstan’s as our Associate for Ministries to Spanish Speakers. Please read on for more.
This world is just too small. Beginning in 2009 and ending in 2020, I joined a team from Saint Luke’s, Baton Rouge, in short term missions to Honduras, taking various parishioners from Grace Church of West Feliciana Parish, where I was Rector. The first action we took once we arrived at La Entrada, Copan, our base of operations, was to meet the Spanish priest in charge of eleven small churches in the area. Our team scheduled a meal at the place where we stayed (La Cordillera Hotel) and we invited the entire family. Juan Jose Dias, his wife Nora, and their five children (two teenage boys 16 and 18, and three girls ranging in age from 7 to 14) met us for dinner. After about an hour conversation, I realized that in addition to all the help from Saint Luke’s, the priest needed the help of my church, and we were incredibly well-positioned to help. What developed after this was an 11-year relationship between our church and the Dias family. We augmented Juan Jose’s diocesan salary (which was about $225 monthly), we paid for special needs as they arose, contributed towards the purchase of a vehicle for the family, and brought all sorts of supplies on our annual visits.
The end result of this relationship was the building of the Episcopal Church at El Carmen, San Nicolas, the rebuilding of various sanctuaries throughout the region, countless training programs for the laity, and a deep personal relationship with the family, which included some travel in New York City in 2018. Soon, Juan Jose became more than a colleague. I can say that we became friends. In several of our late-night conversations, Fr. Dias would make statements about wanting to minister in the United States someday. One of his closest friends from his Roman Catholic Seminary days was presently working in the Diocese of Virginia and had volunteered to assist Juan Jose in the transition. The only problem was that Fr. Dias did not speak English and felt he was too old to learn. He spoke with such respect and admiration about his friend Natividad that after a while I felt like I knew the guy.
By 2014, Juan Jose’s friend had moved to Oklahoma City to become a diocesan Vicar at a Hispanic church, and Juan Jose spoke less of him and more about the busy nature of his job as a circuit-rider in a fast-growing Episcopal Diocese. Soon after I left the church in Louisiana, Fr. Dias was transferred out of the Copan area, and we spoke less and less during the Covid years. He has since been transferred one more time, and the two boys are now in the United States and have their own families. The girls remain at home and attend local trade schools. This is normal for unmarried young women in Latin America.
Move the clock forward to 2025. In May of 2025, the Diocesan Transition Minister emailed me a resume and Episcopal Church profile for a priest from Honduras. We knew then that Fr. Alvaro was about to move on, and we needed a new Associate for Ministries to Spanish Speakers. During my first call to Fr. Natividad, we both realized something almost at the same time: He was the friend Juan Jose used to talk about, and I was the friend he used to talk to Natividad about. We knew more about each other than we realized. At one point, Natividad (NATY) asked, “Are you by any chance from Colombia?” His second question was, “Are you Juan Jose’s friend? He used to talk about you all the time.” Obviously, I had a few questions of my own. That first interview felt like old friends catching up after years of separation.
Fr. Menjivar (soft J, accent on the first e) comes to us with thirty-three years of ministry under his belt, the last thirteen in the Episcopal Church. Prior to ordained ministry in our denomination, Naty went to Virginia Theological Seminary for a certificate of Anglican studies. He holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a master’s degree in divinity. For ten years, he served as the Vicar of Santa Maria la Virgen (Saint Mary the Virgin) in Oklahoma City. The one highlight of his ministry in Oklahoma was the growth of his congregation from an ASA of 50 to a bit over 150 over ten years. He is passionate about pastoral care and preaching, and he has a track record of church growth that precedes his Episcopal ministry.
Please join me in welcoming Fr. Naty to Saint Dunstan’s. We will have an appetizer and dessert potluck reception with wine and beer (and other non-alcoholic options) on August 2nd from 3:00-6:00pm. Please plan to join us and bring a dish to share. Continue to keep Fr. Naty and his family (Ana, Ashley, Natian) in your prayers as they continue their transition to our community.
May our Lord continue to bless us,
Fr. Roman+
