A Celebration of Thanksgiving and Faith

This celebration day, August 16, 2007, was the culmination of a dream for the parish of San Marcos. Formed as a congregation in 1954 in a local home, the parish had been using a small round chapel on the school grounds for worship. This chapel was repurposed as a library, and as part of the day’s service was dedicated to the first priest at San Marcos, R.P. Phillips Wheaton.

The New San Marcos Church is a beautiful white stucco sanctuary and balcony, which seats two hundred worshipers. Second and third stories are ready for completion, and will house an assembly hall for the adjacent San Marcos school and an apartment for visiting clergy, missioners, and guests. The design is considered to be extra spacious, so the church has been nicknamed "a little cathedral."

The building project of San Marcos Church was given $80,000 by UTO, the largest single gift in its endowment. The remaining funds were raised by the Companion Dioceses to the Dominican Republic, in Virginia, Georgia, and Florida. Episcopalians not only gave generously of their funds, but also of their time and resources for labor. Many mission trips were launched to work on the church from frame to finish.

The Dedication Mass began with a starched color guard and band of young people from the San Marcos school, who lead the altar party out into the sunny streets of Haina for a joyous parade. The procession led right up to the door of the church, where Bishop Julio Holguín gave the traditional knock on the door. The church was quickly filled to the brim with the overflow standing out on the church grounds for the three hour service, including blessing of the door, the altar, the pulpit, and the baptismal font. Retired priest and missionary Phillip Wheaton, who founded the San Marcos mission in the mid-1950’s, was the principal preacher. Many clergy from around the Diocese of the Dominican Republic came to join the celebration at the altar.

My husband Gene and I were invited to attend the dedication, to represent the missionaries from the Diocese of Southwest Florida unable to attend. I was the English Gospeler, and my husband served as photographer. We are looking forward to a future mission trip to the Dominican Republic next summer.

The Rev. Cynthia H. Montooth, ObJN, is Deacon at St. Hilary's Episcopal Church in Ft. Myers, FL. She was part of various work teams who helped in the church’s construction.

UTO’s Contribution to the Dominican Republic

The new San Marcos Church is representative of UTO’s incredibly valuable support over the years to the Dominican Episcopal Church. Because DR is a cash resource scarce economy, UTO grants have built nearly 75% of the infrastructure of the Dominican Episcopal Church, especially the schools and the church buildings. UTO’s value to the DR church is far more than cash; access to facilities and the programs that can be provided has helped develop within the people a sense of solidarity with a much broader church beyond the borders of the DR. Just as with the sacrament celebrated each Sunday, these facilities demonstrate how the physical takes on a spiritual dimension in our lives.

The 2005 UTO grant of $80,000 covered approximately 65% of the cost of the new two-story building. Our goal is to complete the second floor parish hall, which will also serve as the assembly hall for the adjacent San Marcos School, by September 2009. San Marcos School, located next door, is the largest Episcopal school in the DR, with over 1,000 students, both girls and boys, in grades preK-12.