Announcing our new rector

We are excited and delighted to announce that the Rev. Yoimel Gonzalez Hernandez, currently Associate Rector at St. Alban’s in Washington, D.C., has accepted a call from the Vestry of St. Stephen and the Incarnation to serve as the church’s next Rector. He will begin his tenure at St. Stephen’s next month, in April 2024.

Rev. Yoimel Gonzalez Hernandez is originally from Cuba, where he studied theater and theology. He served in different leadership positions in the Presbyterian Church of Cuba and the Cuban ecumenical movement for over twenty years before coming to the United States in 2016 and joining The Episcopal Church. He was ordained in the Diocese of Washington in 2019 and since then, in addition to serving at St. Alban’s, has also been dean of the diocese’s Latino Deacons School and collaborated with other diocesan initiatives. He has also been active in the wider church, serving as an alternate deputy at the 2022 General Convention and as a deputy to this year’s General Convention, as well as a delegate for The Episcopal Church to the 2022 Assembly of the World Council of Churches. In addition to these activities, he has supported a variety of nonprofits in the D.C. region, particularly those that support Latino and LGBTQ+ individuals and communities. He is passionate about formation and collaborating in God’s kingdom while doing multicultural ministry, and we are looking forward to him bringing all of these gifts to St. Stephen’s.

Many members will remember that St. Stephen’s was Yoimel’s first home parish when he became an Episcopalian. We sent him out to begin his path toward ordained ministry in 2018, and we are overjoyed to now be welcoming him back as our Rector. We will have more to share about welcoming Yoimel in future editions of the newsletter, but for now we will share his greetings to us all:

Dear family of St. Stephen’s and the Incarnation and Misa Alegría:

It is with great joy and gratitude that I have accepted the invitation of the Vestry to be your Rector. In a few weeks, I will be among you as your pastor and partner in mission, and we will have many opportunities to worship, pray, and continue to bear witness to God’s grace.

Many of you already know me because I was a member of St. Stephen and the Incarnation, and it was among you that I went through my discernment process to the priesthood in The Episcopal Church. I am sure there will be many opportunities to meet those who have joined the family of St. Stephen and the Incarnation since I left to answer my call to the ordained ministry.

You were my family, my shelter, my friends, and my church in the most difficult times after I arrived in the United States as an immigrant. I hope that now, you and I, in shared ministry, can continue to be the family, the shelter, the friends, and the church for many others who are looking for a faith community to call their spiritual home.

As we prepare for this new phase together, I invite you to continue walking in faith during this Lent, carrying your own crosses until we reach the foot of Jesus’ cross in Holy Week. God will sustain us along the way, and together we will have time to dream and celebrate during Easter.

God bless you and sustain you on the journey,

Yoimel