Why the Four US Churchwomen are Important Today

On December 5th, St John Francis Regis, a long-time SHARE sister in Kansas City, MO, hosted a prayer service in commemoration of the four US churchwomen killed in El Salvador 30 years ago.  Over 200 people attended a service that included processions, prayers and a powerful reflection by Sr. Mary McGlone. You can read the story about the event on a local newspaper's website.  

Photo thanks to The Catholic Key Online.

 Father Tom Holder reflects on the date:

I believe there are several reasons why the commemoration is still important today. There is still work to be done and we need to remember the commitment and courage of the four churchwomen to give us strength to do the hard work of justice. We need to make sure the younger generation has a sense of the real history of the region and the ability our country has to influence things, both in good and bad ways. In the Kansas City area, there are growing numbers of Salvadoran immigrants. They are here because they still suffer hardship and persecution. We need to hear the stories so that we can continue to be in solidarity with the people of El Salvador. The four churchwomen teach us the importance of putting a face on the issues. They inspire us by their example and call us to see the people of El Salvador as our brothers and sisters.

Lessons of a Mango Tree

Below is an essay written by Cretin-Derham Hall High School teacher and SHARE delegate, Ellie Roscher. The essay was originally published in Alive Magazine.

Lessons of a Mango Tree: Belief in New Life

The summer after my first year of teaching, I found myself sitting under a mango tree in the middle of El Salvador with a student named Sam. We sat on a bench together in a beautiful garden, looking at an intricate mural in an exotic country, yet the mood was somber and heavy.

Sam broke the silence we were sharing by whispering, “I do not understand, I cannot fathom how one person could ever kill a child.” I hoped he was not looking for his teacher to offer wisdom, because I had none. The world has the potential to be horrendously ugly.

In late July, 16 high school juniors, my two best co-worker friends and I left Minnesota to study the civil war in El Salvador. It was one of those trips that did enough filling to keep me full for quite some time. It was a journey that reinforced the idea that joy and sorrow come from the same well in our hearts. Our overscheduled lives of controlled routine were given up for guttural laughter and soul crushing tears within 10 minutes of each other. We sweated harder and experienced deeper joy and hurt in those 10 days than we had in the previous year of our formerly guarded, air-conditioned lives.

There is a part of the human spirit that knows that all humans have inherent worth and dignity. That part of the human spirit will always cry out for freedom, land, food, water, love and life. In the 1970s, a few families owned most of the land in El Salvador, and the people rose up out of their desperation. With the support of liberation theology and the Jesuit order, the guerillas went to war with the government in hopes of gaining more land, rights and power for the people....Continue reading "Lessons of a Mango Tree."

*Illustration by Meghan Hanson.

- Sara Skinner, US Grassroots Coordinator

"Take off the 'Cold War’ glasses concerning Latin America"

Below is an article written by Ollie Jefferson, one of 19 members of the National Lawyers Guild that participated as a delegate in SHARE's Election Observation Mission. The article, published in the Star Telegram, talks about her experience observing the Presidential Elections in March.

Joined by other members of the National Lawyers Guild, I was part of a delegation of international election observers who went to El Salvador to witness its March 15 presidential elections.

The delegation was sponsored by the SHARE Foundation, which has programs in El Salvador designed to meet basic human needs and build long-term solutions to poverty and social injustice.

Our participation, independent of the U.S. government, was an effort to see whether the elections were fair. While I have had hundreds of Salvadorans as clients and empathize with what they have suffered, my participation as a certified presidential electoral observer required objectivity.

At 5 a.m. election day, our group and the poll workers arrived to set up for what was a long-awaited event: the presidential elections in this Central American country. Their procedures are numerous and highly bureaucratic, developed over time to prevent fraud.

The first voter at my table was no more than 5 feet tall, minute, rather stooped over — an old woman coming to have her say...

To read the rest of Ollie Jefferson's article, click here.

- Leslie O'Bray, SHARE Grassroots Education and Advocacy Intern

"Election observer in El Salvador, a recession-proof spring break job"

Below is an article written by a Georgetown University student and SHARE Election Observation Delegate, Sarah Stodder, for her university's newspaper on her experience in El Salvador. Sarah is a member of the Georgetown Magis Group, a SHARE youth partnering group.

Last Tuesday, I spent my morning in the noisy, sunlit streets of San Salvador and the night in Georgetown’s comparatively glacial climate. But the drop in temperature has actually been the easiest thing to get used to since my return. Not so easy have been my brief encounters with people I know, those friendly but slightly awkward and unfulfilling moments on the way to class when neither person has the time or desire to stop and talk. Each conversation follows a similar outline: “How was break?” One-word response. “Yours?” One-word response. Off to class.

I’ve been struggling to find a word for my break. Through Campus Ministry’s Magis Immersion and Justice Program, I spent ten days in El Salvador with nine other Georgetown students and three staff members. We visited impoverished and marginalized communities—places many Salvadorans themselves don’t see—where people showed us their living conditions and explained the situation in their country. We also served as International Election Observers for El Salvador’s March 15th presidential election.

Passing friends in a hurry, all the words I want to use—sobering, life-changing, uplifting—seem too heavy for a five-second conversation....

To read the rest of Sarah Stodder's article, click here.

To read another article on the Georgetown Magis Group's trip, click here.

- Sara Skinner, US Grassroots Coordinator

Unimaginable Pain and Exquisite Beauty

The following post is a testimony by Lisa Dennison, a parishioner at St. Patrick's Church in Seattle, WA, of her trip to El Salvador last summer through SHARE.

Unimaginable Pain and Exquisite Beauty

"Sin abounds, but grace abounds even more." These words from Dean Brackley, SJ, of the UCA (University of Central America) perfectly describe my experience in El Salvador with our delegation this past June. It was a place of unimaginable pain and exquisite beauty.

I had been praying for an opportunity to leave my comfort zone - and our God answered my prayer abundantly. Intense heat, intense stories, and intense faith were things I experienced, and like all pilgrims, I could not remain unchanged by the reality that was set before me.

I will always remember the searing image of a tiny girl in a tattered dress standing blank faced and barefoot in a garbage dump while her parents foraged for something of value. I will recall with delight the lovely songs and prayerful reflections that were lovingly shared with us at the small but lovely church in Nueva Trinidad. I recall with deep sadness the tree in the center of the village which looked so beautiful, but held the history of unspeakable horrors that were committed in its branches. And my heart was filled with joy at seeing my daughters Sarah and Theresa find their place in the community of Nueva Trinidad, making it seem effortless to build relationship with smiles and a few spoken words.

Mostly I prayed for the grace to hold the difficult truths of this journey - the fact that over 70,000 civilians died in a civil war that our government was immediately involved with. The fact that while I saw Archbishop Romero's visage and words on murals in every small town we went through, and in every home that we visited, there was not one single picture or reference to him in the cathedral in San Salvador. The fact that the one water test we did in a nearby town concluded that bacteria was present, and a likely culprit of the many illnesses affecting local residents. The fact that urban parishes still lose parishioners frequently to violence as they try to minister to the youth who are attracted to gangs.

Yet the generosity of all those we met, their eagerness to share their stories, songs, and jokes with us seemed like shining stars in the black night of poverty and violence. Everyone I spoke to expressed deep gratitude for our visit - like we had given them something precious. Yet, as is so often true, I felt the richer for living with our sisters and brothers in Nueva Trinidad, and receiving the gift of their presence and the gift of their steadfast faith in a gospel that calls for freedom from oppressors.

I once read a quote from an aboriginal woman, "If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together." This amazing trip to El Salvador has reminded me of my own need for liberation, by being in a relationship with those who suffer and struggle for freedom in so many ways. I pray for the strength and courage to remain a faithful companion to our community in Nueva Trinidad - and ask that our parish of St. Patrick's continue this sistering relationship. I also am so grateful to have had the opportunity to represent our parish to those in Nueva Trinidad.

- Lisa Dennison

Posted by Sara Skinner, US Grassroots Coordinator

Josh from Shawnee, KS on Learning in El Salvador

As many Good Shepherd parishioners know, our parish has had a sistering relationship with a Salvadoran community, El Buen Pastor for over 20 years. Through this we send support, both financial and spiritual, to the people of the community as well as delegations of local parishioners to El Salvador to experience what it is like living in a small, impoverished, rural community in the Salvadoran countryside and grow in brotherhood with a community so far away. Just recently I was one of the delegates who traveled to El Salvador and got to experience the country — everything from the heart-warming welcome of the Salvadoran people, to the grim reality of the mass poverty and violence that plagues the country. Looking back on this, I realize that this experience has changed my life, and the only thing left for me to do is speak to those who have not gone to El Salvador about the experience I had with our brothers and sisters in El Buen Pastor.

Our delegation spent three and a half days in the capital of El Salvador, San Salvador. This is the largest city in El Salvador and where we saw some of the true beauty of the country, as well as some of the devastating national problems that the people in El Salvador face on a daily basis. One of the things that stuck out the most is the different types of housing all over the country, from brick one-story houses to small tin and aluminum shacks that litter the green countryside. Seeing such warm, compassionate and strong people living without common luxuries that I take for granted such as running water or looking out the window of the bus and seeing hundreds upon hundreds of small shacks built out of aluminum and other trash really got me thinking about what it would be like to live in El Salvador and not have so many of the things that I have. It was very touching just to look outside at a dilapidated, poorly built house and know that an entire family lives there. It made me want to bring justice to these people who have no hope of rising up in the world without the help of others.

Another very important part of our trip to El Salvador was going to El Buen Pastor and living with the people who are so close to many people of Good Shepherd parish. Some of the community members had previously been to Good Shepherd and all of the members were very welcoming and always gave all they could to make sure we were comfortable as guests. Seeing such great, amiable people working together with so little materialistically but so much spiritually really touched me in a deep way. It showed me that you don’t have to have a lot of fancy things to be happy. These people are a true testament to working for brotherhood and solidarity with each other. Their community was one of the tightest knit communities I have ever experienced. They take care of each others’ kids and help each other with work in the community. It made me wonder why communities and neighborhoods in the United States aren’t as close-knit and caring as El Buen Pastor.

Overall, what I’ve learned from my trip to El Salvador is that the Salvadoran people still need our help, and they have so much to teach us about hospitality and brotherhood. Going to a different culture and seeing how these people live has really showed me how much we, as cultures, need each other. We all must learn from each other and help out as much as we can. We owe it to the people of El Salvador as well as ourselves. We cannot forget about those who live far away because they need our help and have so much more to show us.