The Ven. Mary Gray-Reeves became the third Bishop of El Camino Real Nov. 10 in a service that emphasized the Hispanic roots of the California coastal diocese. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori began the ordination service in Spanish.

“Bendito sea Dios: Padre, Hijo y Espíritu Santo,” she said. “Blessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

Both the Presiding Bishop and Bishop Gray-Reeves are fluent in Spanish, and the liturgy at St. Andrew’s Church, Saratoga, alternated about equally between English and Spanish. The homily was given by the Rt. Rev. Leo Frade, a Cuban-American and Bishop of Southeast Florida. Bishop Gray-Reeves grew up in Miami and served, until she was called to California in June, that diocese as archdeacon.

Five of the 50 parishes in El Camino Real are Spanish-speaking, and they are the fastest-growing churches in the diocese which includes Silicon Valley, the Salinas Valley and Monterey Bay. The 120-member Cristo Rey Church in Watsonville became a mission congregation at the diocese’s annual convention last month.

Bishop Gray-Reeves said she will hold congregational development conferences to encourage concord.

“Grace will bring us together,” she said in an interview after her ordination.

The diversity of the diocese includes a significant number of gay and lesbian parishioners. Integrity of El Camino Real, an advocacy group comprised of gay and lesbian Episcopalians and others, is organizing a letter-writing campaign to Bishop Gray-Reeves in which members are encouraged to describe their spiritual journey. The bishop said she looks forward to receiving the correspondence, describing the campaign as a “profound act of love to the Anglican Communion.”

“She’s going to be the glue that keeps it all together,” said Bishop George Millard, who served as Bishop Suffragan of California from 1960 to 1976. When El Camino Real was carved out of the Diocese of California in 1980, Bishop Millard was instrumental in its creation.

The ordination service included 20 bishops from the Anglican Communion. Bishops from the Anglican provinces of New Zealand, the West Indies, Jerusalem and the Middle East, and Central America attended. In addition to Bishop Millard, Episcopal bishops, included former El Camino Real Bishop Richard Shimpfky, and Bishops Mark Andrus of California, Kirk Smith of Arizona, Chester Talton, Bishop Suffragan of Los Angeles, James Mathes of San Diego, Gregory Rickel of Olympia, and Bavi “Nedi” Rivera, Bishop Suffragan of Olympia.

The Rt. Rev. Sylvestre Romero, assisting Bishop of New Jersey, and, until the election of Bishop Gray-Reeves, the assisting Bishop of El Camino Real, served as co-consecrator. Also serving in that role were the Rt. Rev. Laish Boyd, Bishop Coadjutor of the Bahamas and The Turks and Caicos Islands, Bishop Calvin Schofield, retired, of Southeast Florida, and Bishop Onell Soto, retired, of Venezuela.

Choirs from around the diocese joined forces in the loft at St. Andrew's and were joined by a brass quartet, a timpanist and four organists, but the last word, or note, went to Mariachi Los Lagos, a local mariachi band that advertises “Música para toda ocasión — music for every occasion.”

Timothy Roberts

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