By Yamily Bass-Choate
I am a Hispanic Latina woman, but that was not the way I always saw myself.
I grew up in Colombia, South America, and came to the United States for college. I had planned to stay for a few years and then return. My plans changed, and I began to plant my roots here. I was now an immigrant. My “Latinidad” was suddenly a distinctive marker of my identity, especially in the Deep South, where I’d planted myself. As I became a wife and mother, an Episcopalian, an American, a seminarian, and then a priest, “Hispanic/Latinx” has continued to be a modifier—one in which I take immense pride.
My ordination as a Hispanic woman was a “first” in the Diocese of Mississippi, nearly 30 years ago. Since then, The Episcopal Church has made substantive commitments to being expansive and embracing, and has made progress to that end. My call to lay ministry and ultimately ordination centered, in part, on my desire to help create safe-haven and a sense of place for the growing number of Hispanic/Latinx immigrants seeking sanctuary, spiritually and culturally, in Mississippi.
I look proudly at the work we’ve done as a church to uphold our commitments to Hispanic ministry, both in our Episcopal dioceses in the U.S. and Latin America and in our bridge-building to our Anglican siblings in Mexico and Central and South America. I look around at General Convention, and each year I see that we are building and supporting a more inclusive and diversely represented communion.
As the constant drum of fearmongering about foreigners grows louder and louder in our public discourse, let us get to know others and be friends. Let us rededicate ourselves to the commitments we’ve made to connect and uplift Hispanic/Latinx communities and all non-English speakers, immigrants, and communities of color. “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You” is the bold and unapologetic message that invited me to enter many years ago as an immigrant, English learner, and mother.
The honor of my lifetime has been to bring into my ministry the various elements of “home” that I, and others from Latin America, feel are central to our spiritual identity: Las Posadas, the celebration of La Virgen de Guadalupe, and others. I pray that The Episcopal Church remains a home and unapologetic safe haven for the growing, multiracial, multiethnic population of faithful people seeking communion. “La Iglesia Episcopal Le Da La Bienvenida.”
It is good to be home.
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The Rev. Yamily Bass-Choate is the liaison for global mission and the formal missioner for Latino/Hispanic Ministries for the Episcopal Diocese of New York. She is a member of The Episcopal Church Trust Fund for Hispanic Theological Education and the Executive Council Committee on Anti-Racism & Reconciliation.