An Interview with Fr. Gary Perron, A.A.

Fr. Gary Perron, A.A.

I am Fr. Gary Perron Mayhew. I was born in 1939, in a village near Boston, Massachusetts; at age fourteen, a $5,000 scholarship took me to Assumption College in Worchester, MA, where the teachers were Assumptionists. I liked their spirit, and at the age of twenty I decided to be part of their team.

I studied philosophy for two years in France, and four years of theology in Belgium. During the five summers I learned Spanish in Spain, or “Christian”, as they say there. In the United States I taught French, Spanish and Latin for twenty years. I got a master’s degree in French.

In 1986, I was asked to go to Mexico to the Empress Parish of America, as the Community Economist; I also performed parish duties for a period of three years. Apart from ceremonies and blessings, four things distinguish my thirty-five years here.

Firstly, I developed a good relationship with my Community and some parishioners through board games.

Second, I represented the role of the Devil several times in the pastures organized by our catechism group.

Third, I had the honor of proclaiming the “Shout of Independence” disguised as Miguel Hidalgo, in our patriotic holidays. Because of that, I received a recognition from Roberto Campa for my appreciation for the cultural values of Mexico City.

And fourth, for six years, in collaboration with the neighbors of the colony, I dedicated myself to removing the dangles from the posts. That’s why I received recognition from several delegates and candidate Enrique Peña Nieto. Those recognitions pleased me a lot because for me they were a confirmation of the collaboration we must have between the Parish and the colony, the Church and the State.