10 minute read
Meet the new Dean of our Cathedral
Meet the new Dean of our Cathedral - The Very Rev. José Reyes comes home
The Rev. Vicki Ix, Managing Editor, ABUNDANT Times
The editor’s interview with the Very Rev. José Reyes has been edited for length. Dean Reyes granted the interview the week before beginning his ministry in Springfield on March 23rd.
Editor: I think many of our readers know you José from your work as Missioner for Hispanic/Latino Ministries. You have some diocesan visibility, but there are some who don’t know you. This publication goes to 7,000 Episcopalians here and around the wider church. So, if we could start with some of your background—about your early years growing up in Springfield—because this is a real hometown story.
Dean Reyes: Absolutely. So, when my family moved to Springfield, we didn’t really know the language. We didn’t know anything about the city. We were staying with a family member of ours.
My mom, Xiomara Reyes, was very passionate about making sure that she got to know you first, since we didn’t know anybody. Let’s go to a church. Church is going to help us get to know the area, get to know people. We come from the Catholic tradition and so we were first looking for Catholic churches, but at that time period, there wasn’t any Spanish-speaking Catholic masses that we knew of.
That family member remembered a Spanish-speaking priest in the city who blessed her house. My mom tracked him down. That priest was Bill Dwyer. He was at St. Peter’s at the time. There wasn’t a Spanish-speaking service but Bill said he would come to our house. My mom asked if he’d be willing to come and lead a Bible study. And he said, yes. My mom, in anticipation, invited all our neighbors that we didn’t know, anybody that spoke Spanish in the apartment building were invited. Bill Dwyer came, led a Bible study, and said he would be willing to come again. And so the next time around, my mom got even more people to come. Soon Fr. Dwyer said, “Do you guys want to do this at the church? We can have a mass.” We went to St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. We had mass regularly there and, at some point, Bill retired. Then Bill took us to the cathedral. I was really young. I was like four or five at St. Peter’s, but I think it was at the cathedral that I started to really connect with the church immediately. The cathedral was just so amazing!
All these amazing people welcomed us. I think it was around the summer and there was a vacation Bible school happening, so we went to that. And then we joined Sunday school. Rachel Wheeler was the very first kid that I met. It was wonderful to get to know her and all the other amazing families.
We joined the choir soon after that with Peter Beardsley. We finally felt like we had community. And it was from [church] that we were able to get to know the city. We’d go have church by a lake. Get to know the world beyond Springfield. [There were] barbecues at Forest Park. Through the Hispanic ministry [Bill Dwyer] would take us to Boston Red Sox games. But it was really coming to the cathedral and having that family in Christ that was the beginning of getting to know the rest of the community.
Editor: Well, God bless Bill Dwyer. What great priestly ministry to grow this relationship with your family and with all the Spanish-speaking folks in your building. Really prophetic leadership on his part.
Dean: Amen. Absolutely.
Editor: It was a church plant, when you think about it, right? Growing this this faith community from Bible Study in an apartment building.
Dean: Yes! He [Bill Dwyer] retired like eight times. Really, up until his death, he was still supplying at the 12 o’clock service. You know, he was just like that type of priest that lives his vocation. I was probably around eight or nine when Bill asked all of us if we wanted to learn more about it [The Episcopal Church] and become Episcopalian. We did, but we were already sold because we loved Bill. It was love that brought us to the church—Bill’s love for us. And more than any theological argument or a sermon or anything like that, it was love. And as we were learning about The Episcopal Church, we fell in love with the church, too.
Editor: What a beautiful story. Just to frame this, what year did your family come?
Dean: To America? I think it was ‘89. I was four.
Editor: Correct me if I am wrong. Are you from Dominican Republic?
Dean: Yes.
Editor: Okay, great. What a wonderful story. And, what an important time to hear these stories in America.
Dean: Oh, absolutely. The cathedral that I encountered was loving and inclusive and generous and welcoming. Not just, “come and have your service here”. It was, “come be a part of us.” You know, our cathedral was my first experience with what God is—an amazing community that opened its doors and welcomed us in and invited us to be leaders in the church.
Editor: Let’s just talk for a minute about your discernment. It’s personal, I know, but can you tell me what it was like when you learned that we were in need of a new dean?
Dean: You know, even through seminary, but especially after when I was leading at different churches, I always had the picture of the cathedral as my framework, what to aspire to. I never thought it would be open in my tenure because Tom [The Very Rev. Tom Callard] was young and doing great things. I was cheering it on from where I was serving. So there was no plan for me to go. I loved being at St. Mark’s [Worcester]. Shout out to St. Mark’s! They are amazing. That experience of love, that experience with the cathedral, is very much real at St. Mark’s and San Marcos [Worcester]. It’s a church that really lives into the identity of being a family in Christ. I loved working with different congregations as missioner, too. Loved that too. And then I heard about the search. And, it was like a tug of the heart, right?
“Oh, wouldn’t it be so nice?” I said to myself. But I immediately thought of all the reasons why it would be impractical. Am I good enough for that? That’s silly. But that tug of the heart wouldn’t go away. It was just on a particular day when I decided to take this call seriously. And so I took some time to pray about it and think about it and imagine and dream and what it would be like. I thought it was a long shot because I didn’t look or sound like any dean that they’ve had before. But I had to trust the call, right? So I called the diocese I said I was interested and the process began.
I felt the call was real. Even though I had doubts, I held on to the confidence that this is Holy Spirit driven even if it’s the most unlikely thing. And so I just held on to that. And I’m glad I did because the response was “yes.” I feel like someone who’s been blessed by grace. It’s like the math doesn’t make any sense. A kid from Springfield who grew up there can do this. But I believe in the Holy Spirit. During the process, it was wonderful to speak with the leaders of the church, to talk about the blessings and the growing edges. I felt like I could help. I can serve in those in those places. The positives encourage me. Even the growing edges encourage me because all of them were things that as a church we can work together on and find solutions and see where the spirit is calling the cathedral to be. And a big part of what I kept saying was, “One church, one cathedral.”
Editor: This is a new chapter. This is a really transformative opportunity for both worshiping communities. And I think that’s just so exciting. Let’s move to my last question, and this is kind of like the bigger picture of a cathedral as the heart of a diocese, the seat of the bishop question. The function of a cathedral is also what it models for our diocese, how it welcomes our diocese periodically for worship and fellowship. So, what have you thought a cathedral could do or be for our whole diocese?
Dean: So the verse that was in my heart as I thought about what the cathedral is and could be is that verse where Jesus says a city on a hill can’t hide because the light shines through. The vision that I have for the cathedral is being a light that shines forth. That includes all the things that light represents: encouragement, hope, and the dawn of new things. And so be a blessing, right? Something that can encourage and lift up others.
We talked about the fact that some people have never seen their cathedral. I would like to change that. I would like for there to be events—reasons for everyone in the diocese to come and connect, to help lead, to come preach. I want to invite acolytes from all over the diocese to come and acolyte for diocesan services and events, for choirs to come in and feel welcome. I also would love to be a resource for new ideas, a place of innovation. I want it to be said, “Well, they tried it at the cathedral, so why can’t we try it?” I want that to be a common phrase throughout the diocese. You know, I want the cathedral to belong to the whole diocese.
My hope is that it’s not just me coming up with ideas, but I want to encourage everyone in the diocese. I’m thinking back to mission trips and how that brought the youth from all these different churches together. How can we do more and more ministry that brings us all together out into the world?
I want our cathedral to be a leader as well—to lead by example—going out into the world and being a positive voice and a voice for love and compassion.
Editor: I love doing these interviews, José. I get to know people so much better. I have followed your ministry for a decade. I remember when you graduated from VTS [Virginia Theological Seminary]. I was present for your ordination. I’ve been watching you live into priesthood much in the same way that you described Fr. Bill Dwyer. His story is just a beautiful example of how nurturing the faith in our young people, in families who are new to us, can raise up leaders in the church who are full of God and full of love for God’s people.
Dean: I’m just so excited to start. What new dreams can we have? What can we do together? That’s my question and my encouragement.
Editor: I love that you’re coming with a question not an agenda. José, I want to thank you for your time.
Dean: Thank you. Appreciate it. ♦
