Latino Episcopalians in the spotlight with Gutiérrez presiding bishop nomination
Acolytes lead the procession at San Mateo Episcopal Church in Hyattsville, Maryland, on May 19. (RNS photo/Aleja Hertzler-McCain)
Six years ago, during the keynote address at the 2018 Nuevo Amanecer conference in Hendersonville, North Carolina, Episocpal Bishop Daniel G.P. Gutiérrez of the Diocese of Pennsylvania told an audience of Latino Episcopalians: “We are not an outreach project. We are the church.”
Today, Gutiérrez is one of five nominees to succeed Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. If elected on June 26 at the general convention, Gutiérrez could become the highest-profile Latino leader of a US religious group.
According to a 2014 Pew study, the Episcopal Church is among the least racially diverse religious groups in the US, with White people making up 90 percent of the denomination. In 2014, only 2 percent of the denomination was Latino.
