May 30, 1964 – July 24, 2023
[The Episcopal News] The Rev. Irineo Martir Vasquez, 59, former vicar of St. George’s Episcopal Church, Hawthorne (2001 – 2012), and onetime candidate for bishop suffragan in the Diocese of Los Angeles, died July 24 in his native Guatemala.
Vasquez served most recently in the Diocese of Arizona as vicar of St. Andrew’s Church, Glendale, and canon for Hispanic ministry. He retired in early 2023 and returned to Guatemala with his wife, Elena.
Funeral services will be held in Guatemala. Survivors include his wife of 39 years and their sons Donato, Valentin, and Martir Jr.
From 1996 to 2001, Vasquez was Hispanic missioner and priest-in-charge in the Anglican Diocese of Belize, Central America, where he directed the Hispanic ministry program at St. John’s Cathedral, Belize City, Belize. He was also responsible for mission development and pastoral care among Hispanic refugee families at three mission congregations in western Belize.
In Guatemala, Vasquez was priest-in-charge from 1993 to 1995 at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church and Holy Nativity Episcopal Church in Quetzaltenango, where he provided pastoral care and mission development among Ladino and Mayan communities. From 1986 to 1992 he was priest-in-charge at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, where he served the Mestizo and Garifuna communities.
In the Diocese of Los Angeles, Vasquez was a member of the World Missions Group and a trainer for the Kaleidoscope Institute cultural competence program. In Belize he was a member of the Standing Committee and the Commission on Ministry. In Guatemala, he served on the Commission on Ministry and the Justice and Peace Committee, and was a deputy to General Convention in 1994. (Both Guatemala and Belize are part of the multi-national, New York-based Episcopal Church.)
In Guatemala, Vasquez also served as an instructor at Maya Episcopal Seminary, El Quiche, Guatemala; as a chaplain at prison and hospital facilities in the Izabal District; in the National Army, Izabal District; as director of the Lay Minister Training School; and mentor for the Permanent Diaconate Program.
Vasquez held a bachelor of arts degree in theology from St. Thomas Apostle Episcopal Seminary in Guatemala (1986); a master’s degree in Sacred Theology from St. Andrew’s Episcopal Seminary, Mexico (1992) and a bachelor’s degree in arts and sciences from National Institute Jacob Arbens, Guatemala (1995). He had extensive continuing education, including programs in Jerusalem, the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Nashota House seminary in Wisconsin; and in various programs in Guatemala.
Vasquez was ordained to the diaconate in June 1986 at the Cathedral of St. James, Guatemala, and to the priesthood in November 1988 at St. Paul’s Church, Guatemala, by the the Rt. Rev. Armando Guerra.