Carranza-Gomez Elected In Mexico
Episcopal News Service. April 27, 1989 [89081]
MEXICO CITY (DPS, Apr. 27) -- The Rev. Sergio Carranza-Gomez was elected bishop of the Diocese of Mexico on the ninth ballot at a special convention held March 18, 1989 at the Chapel of St. Andrew's Theological Seminary here, having led with a simple majority form the first ballot. The other candidates were the Rt. Rev. Martiniano Garcia-Montiel, suffragan of the Diocese of Mexico, and the Rev. Adalberto Reyes-Avila, vicar of El Espiritu Santo, D.F., who withdrew after two ballots.
The Diocese of Mexico is one of the three jurisdictions of the Diocese of Central and South Mexico, which was given permission to divide at The 69th General Convention last summer. The Central Diocese, meeting for her first convention on January 15, voted, as the continuing diocese, to resume the name Diocese of Mexico. This convention therefore became the 76th, and Carranza will become the 6th bishop of the diocese.
The Rt. Rev. Jose G. Saucedo, who on January 14th, completed 31 years as Bishop first of the Diocese of Mexico and then of the Diocese of Central and South Mexico, elected to become the first bishop of the new Episcopal Diocese of Cuernavaca (Anglican).
Carranza, 47, was born in Mexico City into a family with a long Anglican tradition. He was graduated form the National Autonomous University of Mexico with a licentiate in Spanish letters. At Virginia Theological Seminary in the United States he received a master's in Theology. He was ordained to the diaconate and the priesthood in 1967.
Initiating his ordained ministry in Monterrey as vicar of La Sagrada Familia, Holy Family and San Pablo, he then went to Mexico City as Dean and professor of St. Andrew's Seminary. He was Associate Rector of Christ Church Parish for six years. In 1974 Carranza founded the Mission Universitaria del Seminario de San Andres, now the Parish of San Jorge, of which he is Rector. Apart from the English-speaking congregations, San Jorge is the only economically self-sufficient congregation of the diocese.
Carranza was one of the translators into Spanish of the Book of Common Prayer, and he has contributed diverse articles to various religious and secular publications.
In addition to having occupied several national and diocesan positions, on the international level he was Chancellor of the Ninth Province of the Episcopal Church for 12 years and Executive Secretary for four. He was also one of two Latin American delegates to the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) at its meetings in Kenya and Ireland, a deputy to four General Conventions, a representative of the Episcopal Church at the last Assembly of the World Council of Churches, and a member of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church.
Until Carranza's consecration the Standing Committee continues as the Ecclesiastical Authority of the diocese.