The Community Church of San Miguel de Allende
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by Rev. Donna Schaper

Here in San Miguel there are 15 Catholic Churches, two synagogues and four Protestant gatherings: Unitarian Universalist, St. Paul's, Antioch, and the Community Church of San Miguel (CCSMA).

Founded in 2009, CCSMA will be 15 years old this February. It was begun by a group of folks, of various denominations, who were attending St. Paul's. They started meeting in a private home. Then, after a few weeks, when they got up to 20 members, they agreed to form a church called the Community Church of San Miguel. The house became too small. They moved around a lot: Hotel Real de Minas, Sappos restaurant, Villas de Allende community room, SM Playhouse, Smart Space. During Covid they went online. Now we meet up in a building a few doors down from SAPASMA.

The author in Judson Memorial Church's front yard with fellow clergy
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The Community Church brings in ministers in residence from the states two months at a time. I am one of them this year. We rotate in and out, getting a beautiful apartment and travel costs in exchange for preaching and pastoring for eight weeks. We tend to be older, like our expat congregation, either rewired or retired and free of enough responsibility to float around the globe a bit. I've been interested in coming to the Community Church for five years but could never get away fulltime from my Greenwich Village parish.

Religion and its institutions are going through a massive sea change. Declining memberships are stranding beautiful buildings in many cities. Last year I rewired to do more writing and consulting in the area of Bricks and Mortals, the adaptive reuse of sacred sites. Floundering urban religious spaces are sometimes removed from the non profit sphere and gentrified high-end real estate or restaurants or bars.

Food Banking when it's not even a holiday
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The Bricks and Mortals project was formed by our church in NYC, the Judson Memorial, out of desperation when we were faced with the question: how could we keep our gorgeous landmarked building going with a declining church membership? We decided on a strategy of the hyper use of our sacred space bringing in dancers, singers, immigrants and anybody who needed a space. It wasn't our motive, but once the church really faced into the community, once we rewired, everything changed. Ironically, this repositioning turned our church's membership decline around.

The author in Washington Square Park
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I have always thought that the Americans living in this hemisphere outside of the States have a special perspective. My background in immigrant rights, reproductive freedom and human rights makes me more of a glocal citizen than not.

The first time I came to Mexico was in 1969 when I drove my high school Spanish teacher and her husband down for their retirement trip. You could say I am on my rewirement trip, having celebrated my 50th ordination anniversary the week I arrived.

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Donna Schaper is one of the founders of Bricks and Mortals in New York City. She served as pastor at Judson Memorial Church for 15 years. Currently she is pastor-in-residence at the Community Church of San Migel de Allende. She teaches leadership at the Hartford University for Religion and Peace. In her rewirement, she is working with Bricks and Mortals on S4, Spiritual Solutions for Sacred Sites. She has written 39 books, most recently Remove the Pews.

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