By Kendra Sitton
The interfaith Light up the Cathedral event will celebrate the work of El Faro: The Border Church in facilitating unity over divisions. During the annual ceremony, local LGBT+ faith leaders and supporters affirm that religious freedom does not contradict LGBT+ rights. The event honors LGBT+ people of a variety of faith traditions so they can attend with their full identity.
Each year, a Light of Pride award is given by St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral and San Diego Pride to a religious or community organization that has made a significant contribution to the LGBT Community. The Border Church takes place each Sunday at 1:30 p.m. simultaneously in San Diego and Tijuana at Friendship Park since 2011.
“It’s a weekly spiritual reminder that unity with God and each other is bigger than any sort of divisions,” explained Seth Clark, a pastor who partners with Rev. John Fanestil on the U.S. side of the border.
The church is part of Fantestil’s advocacy for renewed public access to the historic Friendship Park. Over the past two decades, the cross-border garden has become significantly less accessible for those north of the border. Fantestil has also been a longtime LGBT+ supporter; he has officiated queer marriages since the 1990s.
Clark explained that even now the 18-foot wall at the park is being replaced by a 30-foot wall. This will diminish the visual access but access has been diminished for years. There used to be doors that allowed pedestrians to meet each other at the park. Those have long since closed. Then, the fencing was different so people sharing a picnic on both sides of the park could pass small bites of food to each other in a binational space. Separated families and friends were able to touch fingertips until the fencing changed and then a second wall was erected, effectively blocking people on the San Diego side from nearing the Tijuana side.
During the rainy season, Clark said it can be up to a two-mile hike to come near the second wall. They can no longer worship together face-to-face or pass communion through the fence so the cross-border church must meet from afar. Clark estimates that Fantesil are 100 meters away from those meeting on the Mexican side of the wall, where there are no barriers to approaching the wall.
“Because of access issues on the US side, it’s a lot harder to foster a community there. So sometimes it’s just a pastor. Sometimes it’s a small group of people if they’re visitors,” he said.
While the people on the U.S. side are there in solidarity, on the Mexico side, a thriving community filled with migrants and native Mexicans has emerged.
“In that spirit of unity on the Mexico side, others from the local area are really just practicing church in the spirit of welcome and accompaniment. So not just hospitality, like ‘Oh, you’re welcome here now. Now you’re always going to be second class,’ but really trying to, as much as possible, welcome the migrants in a way that makes them a part of a community, not just being served by the community or something like that,” Clark said.
Recently under the leadership of Pastor Guillermo Navarrete, who leads the communion service on the Tijuana side, the Border Church has partnered with Casa de Luz to provide lunch to anyone interested. Casa de Luz is a shelter for LGBT+ asylum seekers stuck in Mexico who fear persecution for their gender or sexual identity in their home countries. Many of them are from other parts of Latin America.
Via International, the fiscal sponsor of the Border Church, has a program that trains migrants how to cook healthy food. Then, Via International offers microcredits so migrants can begin selling their food as a way to become fiscally self sufficient. The residents of Casa de Luz have participated in this program.
Each Sunday, LGBT+ migrants are paid to make and serve food where the Border Church meets in Tijuana. The lunch is open to everyone, not just those who attended the religious service. It has become a site of authentic community as church goers, LGBT+ migrants and locals share a meal together. The communion service in Tijuana usually has three to five dozen people and lunch is served to 80 to 100 people, according to Clark.
Clark is excited for Light up the Cathedral which he described as being a different context than Border Church but has a similar purpose of breaking down borders, in this case between faith communities and LGBT+ people.
“Through this event, we’re showing that these walls can be broken down,” Clark said. “We can really just walk together and in a way that’s beautiful, in a way that is usually encouraging and supportive.”
Fanestil and Navarrete will receive the Light of Pride award at the interfaith service at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral on July 13 from 7-9 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Clark said San Diegans are welcome to join those gathering at the U.S. side of the border and visitors often only come once. There is no pressure to make this a weekly event. More information about Border Church will be available at Light up the Cathedral, including Clark’s book “Church at the Wall.”
— Reach editor Kendra Sitton at kendra@sdnews.com.
