By Lynette Wilson
Episcopal News Service
On Sunday, Feb. 16, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and Archbishop Francisco Moreno, primates representing The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Mexico, signed a bilateral agreement in Chula Vista, California, effectively moving the two churches into a reciprocal relationship.
“This is a wonderful day and it may not make a splash in all the news media, but let the record note that peoples live together in the Americas, that people who share a common border, people who follow the way of Jesus – following in this Jesus – there is no border that divides us,” said Curry during a time for reflection in the service. “God created the land; human beings made the border. And so, as the old song says, ‘In Christ there is no east or west, in him no south, no north, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide world.’
“It is this fellowship of love following in the footsteps of Jesus that brings us together this day, and in Jesus Christ our friendship grows deep and it will last long. In Christ there is no border.”
The agreement marks a transition in the relationship between the two churches, which dates to 1875. At one time, the church in Mexico was part of Province 9, which encompasses The Episcopal Church’s dioceses in Latin America and the Caribbean. In 1994, the Anglican Church of Mexico entered into a covenant agreement with The Episcopal Church and became an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The covenant, which included a financial stipend as the church in Mexico worked toward financial independence, expired at the end of 2019.
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