In the mid-1960s I went with my father to a Missions conference at Montreat, North Carolina. It was there that I first heard of the Presbyterian Pan American School and met its president, Dr. Sherwood Reisner. The next memory I have about that school was the mention in a sermon by my father of a letter the founding president of that school, Dr. James Skinner, wrote to a young man who had expressed interest in coming to Kingsville to teach at that fledgling school. That young man, S. Brooks McLane, later succeeded Skinner as the School’s president. The letter, which has been printed in this column before (and will, no doubt, be again) is a classic example of an honest and straightforward assessment of the life of discipleship.
That original name of the school was the Texas-Mexican Industrial Institute for Boys. A few years later a Presbyterian School for Girls was established in nearby Taft, Texas where Berta Murray served as president until the two schools merged in 1957. Although originally the mission was to provide a vocational education for young persons from Mexico, today the Presbyterian Pan American School is a college-preparatory school with students coming from four continents (North America, South America, Africa, and Asia).
I mention this as a way of beginning to look at some of those Presbyterian Hispanic persons who have served (and some who continue to serve) faithfully and significantly in this part of God’s kingdom.
Two that come immediately to mind are Jorge Lara-Braud and Herb Meza. Lara-Braud was born in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico in 1931. Having received some written material in the mail regarding Tex.-Mex., n the fall of 1947 he arrived in Kingsville to attend that school. He graduated in 1950 and enrolled the following fall at Austin College from which he graduated four years later with high honors. After returning to Mexico to teach English for three years, Lara-Braud received an invitation to enter Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He accepted and graduated in 1959. Planning to work toward a Ph.D., he went to Princeton Seminary where he stayed for three years, but never completed his doctorate because he was offered the position of dean and professor of theology at the Presbyterian seminary in Mexico City.
After two years there he was brought up on charges of heresy for (1) teaching that the Roman Catholic Church was a Christian church; (2) demeaning the clergy by emphasizing the quality of laypeople; and (3) taking students to commercial movie theaters to see depictions of biblical characters and characters in the Christian tradition such as “Gideon” and “A Man for All Seasons”.
Before he could be fired, Lara-Braud resigned. Within days he received an invitation to teach at Austin Seminary. For two years he was assistant professor of ecumenical studies. In 1966 he assumed the additional responsibility of founding and serving as executive director of the Seminary’s Hispanic American Institute. He remained there until 1972, the year he became an American citizen.
He went on to work for the National Council of Churches. In 1977 he met and became friends with Oscar Romero, archbishop of El Salvador. They remained close friends until Romero was assassinated on March 24, 1980 while saying Mass in a cancer hospital. Lara-Braud in Austin and died June 22, 2009 after a fall in his home.
Dr. Herb Meza was born on October 26, 1922 in Ybor City outside Tampa, Florida, the son of a Spanish father and a Cuban mother. He joined the Marine Corp when he was 17 years old, served in the Pacific in World War II and received two Purple Hearts. After the war he attended and graduated from Davidson College and Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. After serving as a missionary to Portugal for five years, Meza returned to the United States.
He served three churches in what was then Brazos Presbytery (and is today New Covenant Presbytery): St. Stephen Presbyterian Church (1957-1960), Bellaire Presbyterian Church (1960-1963) which is now Christchurch Presbyterian Church, and First Presbyterian Church in Texas City. While serving in Texas City, Meza agreed to serve on the board of the Presbyterian Pan American School. At his initiative the board passed a motion that “the board express its willingness and eagerness to do all within its power to help our Church in its ministry to the high school age young people who are in the new wave of refugees from Cuba”.
Meza also served on the Houston Ministerial Association in 1960, chairing a committee that invited John F. Kennedy, Democratic candidate for the United States presidency, to speak to allay fears about having a Roman Catholic president.
Meza went on to serve churches in Washington, D.C. and Jacksonville, Florida where he retired in 1991. He died February 9, 2017.
Those two leaders have been followed by others who have been faithful in their discipleship to Jesus Christ in the Southwest. While the list of names contains many, the names of Ruben Armendariz (a graduate of the Menaul School in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Austin Seminary) and Gregorio Valenzuela (a graduate of Tex.-Mex. and Austin Seminary) come to mind. Today Isabel Rivera-Velez serves as pastor of Faith Presbyterian Church in Baytown, Texas; Maria Vargas is pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Del Rio, Texas; Absalon Lyra is at El Buen Pastor in Austin. In addition, Dr. Jose Irizarry, a native of Puerto Rico, is the current president of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Serving on the faculty of that Seminary are Gregory Cuellar, professor of Old Testament, and Angel Gallardo, professor of church history.
Many more could be mentioned, but suffice it to say that we are all grateful for the ministry and contributions of these marvelous witnesses to the gospel of Jesus Christ in this part of his kingdom.
The Presbyterian Historical Society of the Southwest exists to “stimulate and encourage interest in the collection, preservation, and presentation of the Presbyterian and Reformed heritage” in the Southwest. If you are not a participating member of the Society and would like to become one, the annual dues are $20 per individual and $25 per couple. Annual institutional and church membership dues are $100. Checks may be made out to PHSSW and sent to:
PHSSW – 5525 Traviston Ct., Austin, TX 78738.
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