November 11, 1934 – July 19, 2024
The Rev. Gustavo Hernandez – who served as rector of St. Clement’s, Huntington Park, from 1989 to 1999 and most recently assisted at St. Margaret’s, South Gate, and previously at St. Mark’s, Downey – died July 19 at age 89.
He is survived by his daughters, Madeleine and Paulette Hernandez, and is predeceased by a son, Martin. Private interment of ashes in the Lazarus Chapel at St. Paul’s Commons, Echo Park, is planned.
Hernandez came to the Diocese of Los Angeles from Waukegan, Ill., where he was assistant rector and Hispanic missioner at the Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady. Previously he was on the faculty of Chicago’s St. Augustine’s College where he was professor of ethics and philosophy,
Hernandez was received as an Episcopal priest in 1983 in the Diocese of Chicago by Bishop Suffragan Quentin Primo. Born in Columbia in 1934, Hernandez served in several ministry assignments, including chaplain and family counselor in the Columbian navy, following his 1963 ordination in Italy as a Roman Catholic priest.
Educated in Columbia, Spain, Italy, and the United States, Hernandez held a doctorate in ministry from Notre Dame. In 1988, he was appointed to the Episcopal Church’s National Hispanic Committee and served as coordinator of translators in the Hispanic Office of the Episcopal Church Center in New York. In Los Angeles, he also served as a volunteer chaplain at the Men’s Central Jail.