Ya es santo

Over in Facebook land, I am a fan of the Juventud Anglicana de El Salvador. They posted some photos today of a Holy Week retreat held out at El Maizal, about 80 kms to the west of San Salvador. This site once was a farm and then became an agricultural school until the conflict wherein it was abandoned. The IAES became owner of it in the 1980s but only in the late 1990s began to reconsider what to do with the property.

When I went to El Salvador in 2002 for the first Cristosal board meeting, the bishop spoke of his plans for the property, plans which at the time meant buying five more acres of land. When a group of Episcopal communicators and I visited El Maizal in 2004, the local leader showed us the bishop's plans for the property. We called it, 'Martín's field of dreams.'

By 2007, the school, thirty homes and spiffing up of the main building had already happened. Agricultural projects were well under way. My last time there, in 2008, a small swimming pool had been installed (somewhere I read it was the gift of the Bishop of Los Angeles) and the main building fully rehabbed. Since then, the church has been renovated and they are working on forming a congregation. There is bakery out there that is fully functional.

In February of this year, during the tenth year anniversary celebration of the founding of Cristosal, the bishop dedicated an obelisk with a celtic cross up top and a plaque at the bottom with the names of the Cristosal board, recognising the work that international citizens have accomplished in partnership with the IAES. Though I am not on the Cristosal board and have not been since 2005, my name is there, too, something for which I am most honoured.



I love the fact that the youth of the diocese chose to have a night-time outdoor Eucharist at the foot of the obelisk (that will also serve as a columbarium). I think the youth are the first to bless the obelisk in this manner.

As an advertisement, make sure that your parish includes in its bulletins on Sunday 25 April, the Episcopal News Service leaflet on Cristosal. Go over to ENS to get it and then get it to the church office.