Grant F. Anderson Citation for Meritorious Ministry
2012 Honoree of the Queens Federation of Churches

The Reverend Martín I. Esguerra-López

Father Martín I. Esguerra-López, M.Id, is a Roman Catholic priest and a member of the Idente Missionaries, a religious community of pontifical right. He graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice with a B.A. in Forensic Psychology and from Stony Brook University’s School of Social Welfare with a Masters in Social Work that had a concentration in community organizing, public administration and research. He received his theological training through the Idente Missionaries; at the Pontifical Universities of Salamanca and Comillas in Madrid, Spain; and at the St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie, Yonkers. In May 2007, he earned a Doctorate of Ministry summa cum laude from the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, N.Y.
Fr. Martin was ordained at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 2008 by the former archbishop of New York, His Eminence Edward Cardinal Egan.

He has ministered for over eight years as Director of Religious Education at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish, (Jamaica), and at Santa Maria Parish (Bronx) and immediately after his ordination was appointed for three years as campus ministry chaplain to LaGuardia Community College and York College by His Excellency Nicholas DiMarzio, the Bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens.

Fr. Martin took the lead in bringing together seven Faith partners to form the first campus ministry in the nation which was interfaith from the ground up. He worked tirelessly over three years with the administration of the LaGuardia Community College and the top administrators of the City University of New York, developing guidelines for the Interfaith Campus Ministry at LaGuardia which stressed accountability and integrity. The Interfaith Campus Ministry opened officially at LaGuardia in the Spring semester 2011. Serving the students and faculty are chaplains from the Buddhist Council of New York, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the Hindu Temple Society of North America, the Muslim Consultative Network, the New York Board of Rabbis, the Queens Federation of Churches, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn.

In May of 2011, he was appointed pastor of Santa Maria Parish in the Bronx where he currently ministers full time.