TLDR: After a successful three-year contract, our Associate Rector for Ministries to Spanish Speakers will become a Bishop’s Fellow while he discerns his next call. Read on for more.
The Rev. Dr. Alvaro Pinzon was hired by Saint Dunstan’s on July 1, 2022, to develop an array of ministries for Spanish speakers. Central to these ministries was the planting of a service in Spanish, which we officially opened on the last Sunday of August of the same year. The original Spanish service took place at 1:00pm on Sunday afternoons, but we soon realized this was a difficult time for those in attendance. Within a year, we moved the service to 9:00am at the Price Fellowship Hall and the average Sunday attendance grew. In early 2024, we moved the service time one more time to 11:15am, also at the Price Fellowship Hall, and this proved to be the most appropriate time. Over the last 2.5 years, the service has grown from a few members to an Average Sunday Attendance that ranges from 40 to 55 people every Sunday. We now have a Spanish children’s choir, several Spanish Acolytes and readers, several Spanish Ushers, a designated music group, and a growing children’s soccer team. This is considerable growth for any Episcopal plant.
Dr. Pinzon came to us after finishing an Anglican Studies Program at IONA school for ministry and a curacy at San Pedro/St. Peter in North Pasadena. Before being received by the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, Dr. Pinzon had been an ecclesiastical judge for a Roman Catholic tribunal in Miami, Florida. With over 15 years of Roman Catholic ministry under his belt, Dr. Pinzon came to us with a vast wealth of experience and a desire to continue to learn the distinctives of Episcopal liturgy and teaching.
Dr. Pinzon started a number of initiatives that aided the growth of our congregation: a. Spiritual retreats at the start of every liturgical season, b. a partnership with Nacer de Nuevo, which eventually led this group to take up residency in our campus, c. The celebration of various Spanish feasts, (such as a Hispanic Heritage Month service and potluck supper, a Quinceaῆera celebration, a large number of First Communions, a Posadas Christmas program, a school supply distribution, a Christmas presents distribution, and other), d. the training of several lay leaders for various ministries, e. the teaching of Newcomers classes in Spanish, etc.
As the three-year contract with Dr. Pinzon ends, both the Rector and the Vestry are looking for additional growth and, in particular, more integration between the Spanish and the English services of Saint Dunstan’s. Our goal is to have one church, one budget, and two distinct languages. We have made attempts at integration between both congregations during these last three years, but the time has come to improve this integration. We are better together, and we must eliminate the duplication of processes that keep us apart.
As for Fr. Pinzon, the Diocese has accepted him into a wonderful “Bishop’s Fellowship” program that helps clergy in transition to find their next call, while providing them with a salary and full benefits until this has been accomplished. Keep him in your prayers while he starts a new search and please join us at a potluck lunch at 12:30pm on Sunday, June 29th, 2025, to celebrate his ministry among us. Please bring a dish to share and, if you wish, a small parting gift to express your gratitude to Fr. Pinzon for his ministry among us.
I will be in charge of the Spanish service and other related ministries starting on June 17, 2025. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me directly. Until then, may our Lord continue to bless you,
Fr. Roman+
