Catedral Metropolitana

La Catedral Metropolitana de San Salvador as I first saw it in 1994. It was not finished, nor was it open to the public. We were amazed to see the banner of San Romero de las Américas hanging between the two bell towers, as well as people up in the towers. We gathered for a FMLN rally before the first free elections to be held after the 1992 peace accords (16 January 1992).

When I returned to El Salvador in 1996, the façade still had not been finished and the cathedral was still closed.

It was not until 2002 that I finally got to see the entire cathedral, inside and out.

And ever since that trip, I have always returned to the cathedral to take in the environment: the bustle of the city outside, the people coming and going and the peacefulness that comes from spending time by Romero's tomb.

These surely are the most comfortable pews/benches anywhere. The cathedral is cool inside, an oasis on a hot afternoon.

The old tomb still speaks to me far more than the present one (2005), which is triumphalistic.

The people will always prevail... 26 March 2011, the people had covered the tomb with flowers.

People still pray at the former tomb. So do I.

Thus, I also am horrified by the stupidity of what has transpired: 26 December behind a huge white shroud, workers chipped away the façade tiles of Harmony of My People (Armonia de mi pueblo) by Dom Fernando Llort, the artisan behind the revival of the folk art that is commonly known as La Palma, from the town where he makes it, and from his workshop, Semilla de Dios, Seed of God. He spent a year of his life creating this work; it was paid for by donations from the people of El Salvador.

This is why so many people are up in arms that the Roman hierarchy decided to take down the mural with the feeble excuse that the tiles had faded, some of them had come unglued (why then did it take people with chisels to hack them away?) and might fall down on people. The apology consisted of the archbishop saying that he was sorry, he regretted not having consulted with the family and if they wanted, they could have a miniature of the façade in the cathedral.

In an article written by Episcopal communicator, Susana Barrera of the Iglesia Episcopal Anglicana de El Salvador, Bishop Martín Barahona of the same church comments on the recent artistic tragedy:

“Alabo la actitud de Monseñor José Luis Escobar Alas (Arzobispo Católico) de pedir perdón, pero le pido se repare el daño que se ha hecho a la cultura y religiosidad del pueblo salvadoreño”, demandó el Obispo Martin Barahona de la Iglesia Anglicana, quien ha dado seguimiento a los hechos.

"I commend the attitude of Archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas (Catholic Archbishop) for apologizing, but I ask that the damage that has been made to culture and religion of the Salvadoran people be repaired," said Bishop Martin Barahona of the Episcopal Anglican Church of El Salvador, who has followed the events.And more from the same article: “Lamento la situación que se ha dado, no comprendo a mi hermana mayor la Iglesia Católica, con tanta sabiduría y no consultar, no meditar, y cometer una prepotencia de esa naturaleza… definitivamente es una falta de respeto a los seres humanos”, reflexionó Barahona.

“I regret the current situation. I do not understand how my older sister, the Catholic Church — with so much wisdom — it could not have consulted or mediated [this situation] and [instead] committed an arrogant act of this nature. Decidedly, it is a lack of respect for human beings," Barahona reflected.

How long would it take to restore what has been taken down, especially since the hierarchy destroyed the work so that some image of El Salvador, Our Saviour, can be painted there instead?

Instead of this work of art that some lovingly, others less so called, 'The Towel,' because many towels sold are of the same style, this is what remains.

This gringa de corazón salvadoreño joins with the Salvadoran people in lamenting the senseless, arrogant and stupid destruction of a national patrimony that belonged to all the people... of El Salvador in particular and the world in general.

Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

Agatha in Guatemala and El Salvador

Storm kills 142 in Central America

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) -- Flooding and landslides from the season's first tropical storm have killed at least 142 people and left thousands homeless in Central America, officials said Monday.

Dozens of people are still missing and emergency crews are struggling to reach isolated communities cut off by washed-out roads and collapsed bridges caused by Tropical Storm Agatha.

The sun emerged Monday in hardest-hit Guatemala, where officials reported 118 dead and 53 missing. In the department of Chimaltenango -- a province west of Guatemala City -- landslides buried dozens of rural Indian communities and killed at least 60 people, Gov. Erick de Leon said.

''The department has collapsed,'' de Leon said. ''There are a lot of dead people. The roads are blocked. The shelters are overflowing. We need water, food, clothes, blankets -- but above all, money.''

[...]

In El Salvador, at least 179 landslides have been reported and 11,000 people were evacuated. The death toll was nine, President Mauricio Funes said.

About 95 percent of the country's roads were affected by landslides, but most remain open, Transportation Minister Gerson Martinez said.

The Lempa River, which flows to the Pacific, topped its banks and flooded at least 20 villages, affecting some 6,000 people, said Jorge Melendez, director of the Civil Protection Agency.

Officials warned that the Acelhuate River, which cuts through San Salvador, was running at dangerously high levels and threatened to spill over into the capital's streets.

Agatha made landfall near the Guatemala-Mexico border Saturday as a tropical storm with winds up to 45 mph (75 kph). It dissipated the following day over the mountains of western Guatemala.

The rising death toll is reminding nervous residents of Hurricane Mitch, which hovered over Central America for days in 1998, causing flooding and mudslides that killed nearly 11,000 people and left more than 8,000 missing and unaccounted for.

Rescue efforts in Guatemala have been complicated by a volcanic eruption Thursday near the capital that blanketed parts of the area with ash and closed the country's main airport. Officials are now allowing helicopters and propeller planes to take off, but commercial flights remain grounded.

Prayers for IARCA

The Synod of the Iglesia Anglicana de la Región de Central América is meeting this week in Panamá. Our Padre Mickey will be on the scene with camera and taking notes for us. He is also preparing the opening liturgy which will take place tomorrow night.

This meeting is an important one because at it they will elect the third archbishop of the province. Their canons allow for two consecutive four-year terms. Bishop Martín Barahona of El Salvador, elected in April 2002 after the death of Cornelius Wilson of Costa Rica, has now completed those two terms and it is time for someone else to take the place. Tea leaf reading indicates it will be the bishop of Guatemala, Armando Guerra, who will be elected, but who knows what the Holy Spirit will be? There is hardly a large field — since the Bishop of El Salvador is ineligible, save changing the canons, that leaves Guatemala, Nicaragua (Sturdy Downs), Panamá (Julio Murray) and Costa Rica (Hector Monterossa). I would be amazed if the bishop of Nicaragua were elected... he has struggled with health issues of late. So that leaves Guate whose bishop has the longest experience, then Panamá and Costa Rica in terms of consecration.

So hold this young province, just barely 12 years old, as it moves through its synod, that God's grace and wisdom shall prevail and politics might sit in the backseat.

I would expect there be a celebration of Bishop Barahona's ministry as archbishop. I hope so! All I can say is that things will be quite different henceforth.

Mural at Comolapa

Meanwhile, el Presidente de la República Salvadoreña, Mauricio Funes, whom I met in 2004, dedicated a mural at the airport. It is off the beaten track if you fly Delta or American; the people arriving on Taca will walk right by it. Otherwise, you have to backtrack to see it.


Left panel


Middle panel (the violet line to the right is evidence that my five year-old Canon is dying after 3000+ photos, well done faithful servant)


middle and right panel


These shiny gold plaques are impossible to photograph. This one consists of the dedicatory words of el Presidente.

'
This plaque is at the far right, expressing the apology on a state-level for the murder of Oscar Arnulfo Romero.

So, you can catch this coming or going from the airport.

Thirtieth anniversary night

So, while many others went to a mass in the crypt in late afternoon, I did not get plugged back into the 30th-year anniversary events until night-time when we went to the ecumenical acto that took place at the Plaza Cívica, frente a la Catedral Metropolitana. I thought we were going to be way late since we left an hour after we should have and figured there would be lots of people, therefore, traffic, but to my surprise, we were dropped off right in front of the Plaza (a street separates it and the cathedral). This was an acto at which there would be read a proclamation. It was sponsored by the Concertación Monseñor Romero.


The Palacion Nacional lies on one side of the Plaza Cívica. It was hard to tell whether an opposing group or pro group was presenting a film projected on the wall of the Palacio Nacional but whatever, it was really annoying and at one point, the organisers of the acto asked that the volume be turned down and if it wasn't, they would get the police to help. The volume went down for a while but then it went back up again. Very aggravating.


Given that I was one of the participants, I tried to be discrete with my photography. This blurred shot shows the catedral in the background and gives you some sense of the crowd.


I cherish this photo of the bishop in the Vermont stole and the gringa in the Salvadoran stole which went home with me qua gift and recuerdo. This was taken before the acto got going.


The organisers held a contest for paintings and this was one of the entries. I took this as we stood to form a procession. I can't believe how honoured I was to be processing in with Bishop Medardo Gómez of the Iglesia Luterana de El Salvador – a Nobel Peace Prize candidate - Arzobispo Barahona and a whole cast of luminaries whose names I need to track down but who were well know to the crowd — Pablo Richard, I heard a speech by him back in 1993 in NYC, a priest who knew Romero from back when and so forth.


Holding my camera at my waist so as to be discrete, here is a photo of the crowd. In the foreground are some Finnish Lutheran pastors. One of them at least knew the words to some of the songs we sang. I admit to being far more reserved in comportment since I was up on the platform (only woman!!!!) with all these pastors. Otherwise, I also would have been yelling, ¡Qué viva! and such things.


Bishop Gómez read the first part of the proclamation (to come later).


And Bishop Barahona read the second part.

In addition to saying something in the prayers of the people (Bishop Barahona encouraged me to say where I was from), I was appointed to read the benediction which was a quotation from Romero: 'If they kill me, I will rise again in the Salvadoran people.' As I read it, I looked out at the crowd and saw people saying the words with me… si me matan, rescutiraré en el pueblo salvadoreño.'

This is once-in-a-lifetime stuff.

Thirty-year anniversary morning

The thirtieth anniversary of the martyrdom of San Romero de las Américas was marked by many events, sponsored by three main groups: the government, the 'official' Roman group and then a third group, the Concertación de Romero. We attended events sponsored by the last group.

The day started with a mass at the chapel at the Divina Providencia cancer hospital where Romero was assassinated. There would later be a mass in the crypt at the cathedral but I did not get to it. Nor did I get to participate in the procession from Divina Providencia to the cathedral, though I would have greatly enjoyed it (despite the sun!).

We got to Divina Providencia in the Mira Monte part of San Salvador about ten minutes before the service actually got going. There was lots of milling around beforehand.


The crowd grew even after we went inside but there was already a good crowd before the mass began. People were handing out posters which I gladly took.


The idea throughout the week was that I would accompany the bishop, not really as a body guard because I certainly am not trained but as a witness should anything untoward happen and perhaps, because of being a gringa, it might stop someone from doing something. Of course, obviously these concerns never came to bear but they were in our minds.

It came as a surprise, therefore, to find myself walking down the aisle with him, leading off the procession no less!, and then being directed to sit up front to the left of the altar. Bishop Barahona started out next to me but the organisers then invited him to go up with the other luminaries.


These luminaries were each invited to speak. Bishop Barahona was introduced as having survived an assassination attempt. People applauded him for his witness and even more so after he spoke. He spoke with passion about justice and the Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador's preferential option for the poor.


[This photo is cribbed from someone's facebook page.] After Bishop Barahona spoke, I could see him talking with the organiser (the man next to me in the photo) and pointing at me. I thought, 'Oh no... I know where this is going and I have prepared nothing ahead of time.' The organiser said he did not even dare to try to say my name and he introduced me as 'hermana.' So I introduced myself as la Revda Canóniga de la Iglesia Episcopal de los Estados Unidos y 16 otros paises and Fundación Cristosal. It was a great honour to be able to speak; only eight of us did.


The chapel got even more full as the service went on. I took this during the introductions when people were still arriving.


People from all around the world (Palestine, Cuba, Chicago, for starters) gave gifts which ended up on the altar. You have to admit, I had an excellent vantage point.


After the mass, people spilled out into the street and got set up for their procession to the cathedral. There were far more people at the end of the mass than at the beginning.


As you can see, hay gente.


And here is a little sabor of what the procession involved.

El Salvador March visit 1

This may end up being a multi-posting to get in the photos and commentary but I'll start off... my trip to El Salvador was so fast, too fast but somewhat assuaged my hunger to be there. The last time I had gone was June 2008 so a trip was long overdue. I have so missed the country, San Salvador and most of all the people. Given the events of the past week, it was all the more important I be there for I accompanied Bishop Barahona everywhere which kept him company when he needed it and opened doors to some neat opportunities.


Monday 22 March, we attended a talk by the dean of UCA on Msr Romero in the crypt of the cathedral. The wheel-like ceiling dates post 2004. Behind the altar (barely visible) lies the new 2005 tomb of San Romero. Bishop Barahona was invited up to the head table where his colleagues of an interfaith group sat.


During an opening prayer by a rabbi, the dean and bishop stood side-by-side.


Like the tomb, this painting has moved hither and yon in the crypt. It now resides in the area where Romero's second tomb resided, the tomb that I knew best and prefer still because it was much more simple and del pueblo.


One unexpected treat, a God-incidence, was meeting the Rev'd Bill Wiffle, priest from Buffalo NY, who worked five years with Romero. He was the very last person to whom Romero gave communion ever. He was at the service at the cathedral, 23 March 1980, and had decided not to receive. He then heard Romero asking him, 'Don't you want communion?' So he partook and then Romero went to the altar to finish the service... his last mass since the one the next day was never completed.


The people were beginning to take over the tomb. By the end of the week, Thursday, the tomb was completely covered by flowers. The only part that remained visible was the bishop's face; otherwise, flowers real and paper covered the bronze. And the wax from melted candles at the head of the tomb, the photographs of Romero behind it, somewhat took away the sterile nature of the tomb (one of my beefs is that the only dates that appear are those of his time as arzobispo).


People had brought photographs, begun to appropriate the tomb to themselves and also prayed there, touching it. The tip of the mitre is burnished as well as the heads of the four women who form the posts of this statue.


As a point of comparison, here is a photo from Co-Latino on Thursday (taken Wednesday). By the time I got to the tomb Thursday afternoon, it was completely covered.

On to part 2.

Reintegration

So, so much to do all the while reintegrating from a whirlwind trip to El Salvador. So here is just one photograph.

Tomorrow is Bishop Barahona's 18th anniversary of consecration. As you pray for his safety and well-being, give thanks for his years of ministry and witness to God's all encompassing love for the poor and the marginalised and for his prophetic voice which he is not afraid to use.

[The photo was taken at the ecumenical event on 24 March at the Plaza Cívica in front of the cathedral where Romero's tomb is. More on that later. The stole he is wearing was made by the children of the congregation I serve.]

Woman Ordained Priest in El Salvador

Rosa Irma Guerra, la primer mujer ordenada como sacerdotiza Episcopal, es acompañada por Juan Pablo Alvarado, Roberto Castro Castro y Manuel Esteban Osorio, nuevos Diáconos, al momento de ser consagrados por los Obispos Medardo Gómez y Martín Barahona, de las iglesias Luterana y Episcopal, respectivamente. Foto Diario Co Latino/Ricardo Chicas Segura


Zoraya Urbina
Redacción Diario Co Latino

La iglesia Episcopal Anglicana ordenó como sacerdote a la primera mujer salvadoreña dentro de la congregación.

Rosa Irma Guevara de Alvarado, hizo sus votos frente al Obispo Martín de Jesús Barahona, el máximo representante de la Iglesia en El Salvador y en la región centroamericana.

Tras seis años de preparación, entre los que pasó por un proceso de discernimiento, conocimiento de las bases de la congregación, estudios de teología y luego de someter su solicitud a consideración del obispo, este miércoles pasado, Guevara de Alvarado se ordenó como reverenda.

“Es un privilegio sentir que yo estoy llamada a servirle al Señor en este ministerio como mujer ordenada”, dijo de Alvarado, momentos antes de ser consagrada como la primera salvadoreña ordenada en el país.

En El Salvador y en muchos lugares del mundo, lo tradicional es que los cargos religiosos: diáconos, sacerdotes, pastores, Obispos, u otros, sean ejercidos por hombres, en la Iglesia Católica Romana y en las Iglesias evangélicas.

Según el obispo Barahona, la Iglesia Episcopal Anglicana es inclusiva y no hace diferencias entre hombres y mujeres, por tanto todos y todas pueden optar por cualquier cargo en el que sientan la vocación de servir.

Este proceso data de hace treinta años, cuando posterior a diversas deliberaciones dentro del seno de la iglesia, se comenzó la ordenación de mujeres porque consideraron que todos y todas pueden ser llamados por el Espíritu Santo, ya que este no hace diferencia de géneros.

Las órdenes en las que los miembros de la congregación pueden servir son: el diaconado, que significa la consagración al servicio del prójimo, el presbiterado que es el sacerdocio y el obispado.

Barahona explicó que en El Salvador ya ordenó a dos mujeres, pero que ambas son estadounidenses.

También en la congregación hay mujeres procedentes de todo el mundo que ejercen sus ministerios en diversas regiones.

En la ceremonia participó el Obispo de la Iglesia Luterana, Medardo Gómez, quien explicó que dentro de su iglesia también hay mujeres que ejercen el sacerdocio.

“En nuestra iglesia hay mujeres salvadoreñas ejerciendo como sacerdotes”, explicó el prelado. En la región, Gómez representa la mayor autoridad dentro de la iglesia luterana, por tanto es el encargado de tomar las profesiones de fe a los nuevos religiosos y religiosas.

Según dijo, tanto su congregación, como la Episcopal Anglicana tienen un acuerdo para compartir el púlpito y el altar, pues “su identidad es ecuménica”, es decir universal y la relación entre ambas es fraternal.

Esta disposición fue aprobada a nivel mundial según explicó el religioso. “Pero aquí en El Salvador, en las ordenaciones tanto de los pastores luteranos como los episcopales, participamos los dos obispos, de tal manera que la bendición sacerdotal y episcopal la tienen de las dos iglesias”, indicó.

La iglesia Episcopal Anglicana surgió en Inglaterra, a raíz de la ruptura entre el Rey Enrique VIII y el Papa, cuando este último se negó a concederle el divorcio para contraer nuevas nupcias.

La iglesia Luterana nació a partir de la reforma impulsada por Martín Lutero, quien afirmaba que la fe es suficiente para lograr la salvación y quería cambios dentro de la Iglesia Católica, tales como el matrimonio de los sacerdotes y la posibilidad de que las mujeres ejercieran los ministerios.

Aida Alvarado, miembro de la Iglesia, afirma que todas las iglesias históricas, es decir, la Episcopal Anglicana, la Luterana, la Católica Romana, surgieron el día de Pentecostés.

Este acontecimiento es el que relata el libro de Hechos de los Apóstoles, en el Nuevo Testamento, cuando el Espíritu Santo se manifestó a los doce seguidores de Jesucristo y a su madre María.

Nelly Miranda, una reverenda episcopal de Guatemala, que tomó sus votos hace 8 años, cree que la iglesia es inclusiva y permite que la mujer pueda servir a Dios a través del ministerio del sacerdocio. “Yo serví en una iglesia tradicional, pero no había ordenación de mujeres, entonces no podía ejercer un ministerio como aquí”, explicó.

La nueva reverenda expresó satisfacción por su ordenación: “Lo que más me llamó la atención es ser mujer, la iglesia nos da la oportunidad de servir como mujeres ordenadas y yo creo que en la iglesia hay tanto trabajo que hacer y eso es lo que más me ha llamado la atención”.

“Somos una iglesia que incluye a todos y a todas, y a la mujer le da toda clase de oportunidades. Todos los espacios jerárquicos que hay en la iglesia están abiertos para las mujeres”, dijo Barahona.

© 1890-2008 Diario Co Latino | Todos los derechos reservados.

New York Times notable books for 2009

Out of the 100 books they list, I have read a whopping two: Columbine and Zeitoun. Sigh.

It's not that I don't read. Both night tables are full of books. I guess it is just that I am reading books a couple of years old, such as Robert Clark's Dark Water about the 1966 flood in Florence and the controversial restoration of the Cimabue crucifixion, or finishing off Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma which I started flying to Stockton, CA in January; or Peter Chapman's Bananas: How the United Fruit Company Shaped the World (title says it all), or Ron Hansen's novel, Exiles, an interweaving of Gerald Hopkin's poem, The Wreck of the Deutschland, and Hansen's depiction of Hopkin's life and the lives of five nuns who perished in the wreck; Terry Tempest Williams' Leap, her in-depth meditation on Hieronymous Bosch's The Garden of Delights; and finally Julie Greene's The Canal Builders which speaks of the silver, not gold, people who built the Panama Canal (the non-white people were paid in silver and had none of the perks that the whites did, surprise, surprise).

So there is plenty to read... just not what is on the NYT book list.

FLASH: It is snowing!!!! Hooray (never mind that I don't have snow tires on yet)!

In anticipation

I am exporting from up north (i.e., my former congregation) the wonderful papel picado banners (from Mexican Sugar Skull) and this year, in a new place, am adding in una ofrenda — an altar at which we remember the dead.


The ofrenda is far from finished and people are going to add to it, but I wanted to get things started because tomorrow I am also leading a retreat so won't have a lot of time (and tomorrow night we will have a food stand at the 50th annual Halloween parade downtown).

Tonight the family foyer met and everyone (except me because I had such a full day, including funeral and burial) got dressed up in Halloween garb. Hence, the odd clothing of the adults. After a great potluck, I commandeered the tall people to help me put up the papel picado in the chapel.


Looking to the back of the chapel — you can see organ pipes that go with a small organ we use in the winter. We had gotten the first strand up.


This gentleman's father-in-law had lived in Egypt for a while and had brought back this robe. I told him as he clambered up on the pew that now he would know how women feel with long dresses.


In the process of hanging up the last papel picado, a little person had crashed through it so our Egyptian friend and I spent some time taping the poor skeleton back together so he wouldn't flop. Now his panel is a bit puckered but it will survive the next four weeks.


The chapel is not yet ready for Sunday (I need to change the cloth to white) but it's well on the way.

I am delighted because a junior high student was thrilled to see the papel picado and asked, 'Are we going to have sugar skulls?' They've been studying el Día de los Muertos in her Spanish class. I told her I wanted to see how well this went over and that perhaps next year we could do the sugar skulls. So far, this set-up is a hit. I have told folks that I consider the chapel 'fair game' or my 'playground.' The young families like it. And that is very good.

Missioner needs a Mac

Our fearless friend in Panamá, Padre Mickey, needs a new Mac (yes, even Macs croak at some point or another). Without a new Mac, the Dance Party can't go on.

So, to help him out, go to his page at his sponsoring parish, Saint Francis Episcopal Church.

G'wan (as another blogger is wont to say), do it.

Another article on the Churches of the Americas meeting

Wander over to the Cristosal website to read an article written by the communications officer of the Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador.

Les pido sus oraciones

for the Consultation of the Americas — inspired by Executive Council resolution 005 which called for a meeting of the churches of the Americas. ENS has the story here.

Some of my Latin America friends will be there. How I wish I were going but it was not to be.

Anyway, pray that they have a good meeting that will open up doors and new ways of communication between these churches.

Non sequitor — does anyone else have blogger insert this code in the midst of a word or even the linked address:
http://www2.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

It drives me nuts and I have never figured out why it happens. All I know is I have to go hunting for it after linking to something else.

Oraciones para la gente de Costa Rica

Mis compañeros y compañeras salvadoreños/as conocen desmasiado bien que es sofrir un terremoto, dado que el aniversario del gran terremoto de 2001 que mató a casi 600 personas es el 11 de enero.

Ayer, un terremoto de 6/2 grados socorró Costa Rica y dicen en este momento que hay más de 2000 damnificados y 4 muertos confirmados pero muchas más personas disparecidas.

Oren para este pueblo.

Miembros de IARCA, obispos, clero y laícos, estuvieron a San José por una reunión pero todos están sanos y salvos.

My sister and brother Salvadorans know too well what it is to suffer an earthquake, given that the anniversary of the 2001 earthquake that killed almost 600 people is the 11th of January.

Yesterday a 6.2 earthquake shook Costa Rica and they say right now that there are more than 2000 homeless and 4 confirmed dead though there are many more missing people.

Pray for them.

Members of IARCA — bishops, clergy and laity — were in San José for a meeting but they are all safe and sound.

A Christmas message from Archbishop Martín Barahona

The Most Rev'd Martín Barahona
Bishop of the Episcopal Anglican Church of El Salvador
Primate of the Anglican Church of the Region of Central America (IARCA)
Vice President of Foundation Cristosal
Moderator for Mesoamerica of the World Conference of Religions for Peace

“Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace to men and women
of good will.” (Luke 2:14)

My friends and members of the Episcopal Anglican Church of El Salvador, of the Province of the Anglican Church of the Region of Central America, of the Anglican Communion and, in general, to all who enjoy good will, peace and love in all their dimensions and consequences:

For us Christians, the birth of Jesus or the Incarnation of God in humanity signifies the deepest human expression and, at the same time, the divine expression that God has in God's infinite will of love and accompaniment to God's creation. The human being is especially the central axis of creation.

It is for this reality that, at the knowledge of this event in this moment of history, the Holy Scriptures mention there is great joy and the Angels sing, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men and women of good will.” This message is not only true for Christians; it is also valid for all, because in one form or another all people need to give glory to God.

All religions have expressions of praise and glory to the Holy as each one conceives it. We respect profoundly the ways and expressions of prayer of other religions. We know and are convinced that we are surely giving glory to the same God or the same Divinity that has infinite ways of self-expression with God's sons and daughters. We invite all to fulfill the most sincere expressions of glory to God, especially in these times when we are about to begin a new year, with new decisions and new intentions, that our future plans will be guided by the Holy Spirit.

The text that we have cited says, “and on earth peace to men and women of good will.” This is precisely what we have needed for the past several thousands of years - people of good will, governors, rich and poor… for all people in the world are asking with urgency that we make an effort to be people of good will, that there not be natural disasters, because all disasters are the consequences of the lack of men and women's good will. Unfortunately, we have created a mentality and structures that destroy God's creation.

It is for this reason that in this message, I respectfully invite us to begin to be people of good will. In this way, we will be able to change the injustices and inequalities that there are in the world. If one of these days we decide to give glory to God with the firm will to construct justice, we will have a world where there will be peace, unity and love between all human beings.

May this same God of life bless us and give us the strength to fulfill God's Holy Will, that “ we love one another as ourselves.”

The Most Rev'd Martín Barahona,
San Salvador, 22 December 2008

+

Revdmo. Martín Barahona
Obispo de la Iglesia Episcopal Anglicana de El Salvador,
Primado de la Iglesia Anglicana de la Región Central de América (IARCA)
Vice-Presidente de la Fundación de CRISTOSAL
Moderador para Mesoamerica de la Conferencia Mundial de Religiones por la Paz.

“Gloria a Dios en las alturas, y
en la tierra paz a los hombres y mujeres
de buena voluntad” (Lucas 2:14)

Mis amigos y amigas miembros de la Iglesia Episcopal Anglicana de El Salvador, de la Provincia Anglicana de la Región Central de América, de la Comunión Anglicana en general y a todos y a todas que gozan de buena voluntad; paz y amor en todas sus dimensiones y consecuencias.

Para nosotros los cristianos, el nacimiento de Jesús o la encarnación de Dios en la humanidad, significa la expresión mas profundamente humana y al mismo tiempo divina que Dios tiene en su infinita voluntad de amor y acompañamiento a su creación, especialmente el eje central de esta creación, que es el ser humano.

Es por eso que al conocer en algún momento de la historia este acontecimiento, los textos sagrados refieren que hay una gran alegría y los Ángeles cantan “Gloria a Dios en el cielo, y en la tierra paz a los hombres y mujeres de buena voluntad”. Este mensaje no solamente es válido para los cristianos, si no también es válido para todos y todas; porque de una u otra forma, todos los seres humanos sentimos la necesidad de dar gloria a Dios.

Todas las religiones tienen expresiones de alabar y glorificar a la divinidad tal como cada uno lo concibe y en esta expresión respetamos profundamente las formas de orar que tienen otras religiones, sabemos y estamos convencidos que en definitiva, estamos dando gloria al mismo Dios o a la misma divinidad que tiene infinitas maneras de comunicarse con sus hijos e hijas; invitamos a todos y a todas a realizar las mas sinceras expresiones de gloria a Dios, especialmente en estos tiempos cuando vamos a empezar un nuevo año con nuevas decisiones y con nuevos propósitos, que nuestros planes futuros sean guiados por el Espíritu Divino.

El texto que hemos citado habla… “y en la tierra paz a los hombres y mujeres de buena voluntad” esto es precisamente lo que hemos necesitado desde hace miles de años; gente de buena voluntad, gobernantes y gobernados, ricos y pobres. En fin todos y todas en el mundo estamos pidiendo con urgencia que hagamos un esfuerzo por ser gente de buena voluntad, no existen desastres naturales, todos los desastres son a consecuencia de que no hay voluntad de nosotros hombres y mujeres; desafortunadamente, hemos creado una mentalidad y estructuras de destrucción de la creación Divina.

Es por eso que en este mensaje, les invito con mucho respeto, a que comencemos nosotros mismos a ser gente de buena voluntad, y de esta manera seremos capaces de cambiar las injusticias y desigualdades que hay en el mundo, si algún día nos decidimos a dar gloria a Dios, con la voluntad firme de construir la justicia; tendremos un mundo donde haya paz, unidad y amor entre todos los seres humanos.

Que el mismo Dios de la vida nos bendiga y nos de la fortaleza para cumplir con su Santa Voluntad, el “amarnos los unos a los otros”.

San Salvador, 22 de Diciembre de 2008
Revdmo. Martín Barahona

Les pido sus oraciones

I ask your prayers for the Congregation of San Andrés, Apóstol, Soyapango, San Salvador, El Salvador. Their priest, the Rev'd Amy Zuninga (who has a good blog about her ministry there over the past three years), is leaving in October and at present there is no one in line to continue her work. Prayers can move mountains and perhaps if this corner of the blogosphere gets going, the congregation will not go too long without a resident priest.

The Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador is stretched enough that to find someone already there to cover will mean they will take on a fourth or fifth congregation.

Of course if there is anyone you know out there who is fully fluent in Spanish and ordained, that would be even better but I won't be greedy in asking your prayers.

[the photo is from Amy's blog; the deacon in the front row has since been ordained to the priesthood]

Bishop sighting

(c) Scott Gunn, ACNS, 17 July 2008

The Rev'd Scott Gunn, taking photographs for the Anglican Communion News Service, caught this group of bishops waiting to go into the sacred precincts of Canterbury Cathedral. Three bishops hail from the Anglican Church of the Region of Central America (IARCA): the Most Rev'd Martín Barahona (El Salvador), the Rt Rev'd Julio Murray (Panamá, back row, tall man on left), the Rt Rev'd Hector Monterroso (Costa Rica, wearing white shirt). Between Bishops Barahona and Murray is +Revdmo. Benito Juárez of South East Mexico. And in the middle is the Archbishop of Taiwan. Sadly I do not know the names of the other bishops.

Keep praying for them all.

[Thanks, Scott and Padre Mickey.]

Rethinking mission trips

from the Washington Post

Churches Retool Mission Trips
Work Abroad Criticized for High Cost and Lack of Value

By Jacqueline L. Salmon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 5, 2008; B01

Not long ago, the families of Fairfax Presbyterian Church spent thousands of dollars to fly their teens to Mexico for eight days of doing good. They helped build homes and refurbish churches as part of an army of more than 1 million mostly Christians who annually go on short-term international mission trips to work and evangelize in poverty-stricken lands.

Yet even as those trips have increased in popularity, they have come under increased scrutiny. A growing body of research questions the value of the trips abroad, which are supposed to bring hope and Christianity to the needy of the world, while offering American participants an opportunity to work in disadvantaged communities, develop relationships and charge up their faith.

Critics scornfully call such trips "religious tourism" undertaken by "vacationaries." Some blunders include a wall built on the children's soccer field at an orphanage in Brazil that had to be torn down after the visitors left. In Mexico, a church was painted six times during one summer by six different groups. In Ecuador, a church was built but never used because the community said it was not needed.

To make missionary work more meaningful, some churches are taking a different approach. In response to the criticism, a growing number of churches and agencies that put together short-term trips are revamping their programs and establishing new standards.

For the past four years, for example, the Fairfax Presbyterian youths have stayed closer to home, in places such as Welch, West Va.; Lansing, Mich., and Philadelphia. Last week, a team of 44 were in St. Petersburg, Fla., to clean and paint low-income homes, assist the homeless and volunteer at a free health clinic.

Senior Pastor Henry G. Brinton said the church realized that the teens could do just as much good working close by as far away.

"It became too hard to justify the expense of flying the kids overseas," Brinton said. "If you're going to paint a church, you can do that in Florida as easily as you can in Mexico."

Fairfax Community Church is repositioning its mission trips "to get away from the vacation-with-a-purpose, large groups going somewhere to build something" focus, said Alan MacDonald, the church's pastor of global engagement.

The church is sending out smaller teams of experts to work on projects with partner churches. For example, it is sending information technology professionals who are fluent in Spanish to a church in the Dominican Republic to train members in computer skills so they can get better jobs, MacDonald said.

McLean Bible Church, which sends about 35 short-term mission teams out each year, is training its team leaders to approach short-term missions with a "learner's mentality,'' to be respectful of the culture or group the team will be serving, said Kailea Hunt, director of global impact for the church.

Christianity Today, an evangelical magazine, is adopting much the same approach in a curriculum for short-term missionaries and their host organizations. Andy Crouch, an editor who is working on the project, said it came about as the result of complaints he heard from churches and nonprofit groups in foreign countries that host American short-term missionaries.

"We hope that when they land on the ground, they will be more prepared to listen well to their hosts and learn from their hosts what is really helpful to be doing," Crouch said.

The curriculum, for example, warns missionaries to think about their attire in conservative countries and what kind of message they're sending when they bring expensive cameras and other electronics to poverty-stricken villages.

Despite the concerns with trips abroad, their popularity is soaring. Some groups go as far away as China, Thailand and Russia. From a few hundred in the 1960s, the trips have proliferated in recent years. A Princeton University study found that 1.6 million people took short-term mission trips -- an average of eight days -- in 2005. Estimates of the money spent on these trips is upward of $2.4 billion a year. Vacation destinations are especially popular: Recent research has found that the Bahamas receives one short-term missionary for every 15 residents.

At the same time, the number of long-term American missionaries, who go abroad from several years to a lifetime, has fallen, according to a Wheaton College study done last year.

The short-term mission trip is a "huge phenomenon that seems to be gaining in momentum rather than waning," said David Livermore, executive director of the Global Learning Center at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, who studies the trend.

Participants care for orphans, hold Bible classes, evangelize, paint homes and churches, and help AIDS patients, among other tasks.

But research has found that the trips tend to have few long-term effects on the local people or on the mission travelers. Some projects take away work from local people, are unnecessary and sometimes dangerous.

"I really don't think that most people are trying to be ugly Americans," said Glenn Schwartz, executive director of World Mission Associates and author of "When Charity Destroys Dignity." "But they're misinformed and don't realize how their good intentions can go awry."

Mission groups also often bring their own experts and ignore local authorities on the ground.

In Monrovia, Liberia, three years ago, tragedy occurred when visitors built a school to their standards instead of Liberian standards. During the monsoon season, the building collapsed, killing two children, Livermore said.

Critics also question the expense involved in sending people long distances. Short-term missionaries pay $1,000 each, or far more, in plane fare and other expenses to get to remote destinations.

A 2006 study in Honduras found that short-term mission groups spent an average of $30,000 on their trips to build one home that a local group could construct for $2,000.

"To spend $30,000 to paint a church or build a house that costs $2,000 doesn't make a whole lot of sense," said Kurt Ver Beek, a professor of sociology at Calvin College who conducted the research.

A coalition that organizes mission trips has also set up standards that call for consultations with local organizations during planning, cultural training for participants and qualified leaders to be sent with the group.

"If [the trips] are only about ourselves, then we're doing nothing more than using another culture . . . to get some benefit at their expense," said the Rev. Roger Peterson, chairman of the Alliance for Excellence in Short-Term Mission, who helped set up the standards. "I don't care what verse of the Bible you read, it's wrong, it's wrong, it's wrong."

+

This article tackles a very sensitive matter and about which I am not totally decided.

On the one hand, it is crazy to spend all that money getting down to a foreign place and to 'do good.' On the other hand, exposing people to another reality and building bridges can have long-lasting impact if relationships are maintained over the years.

Where I struggle is articulating the nature of a trip. I have long wanted to take a group of people to El Salvador and tried to do so two years ago but as the year went on, more and more people backed out because we weren't going to DO SOMETHING. The trip I had envisioned was going to El Salvador, hanging out, listening to people there, learning about their lives, experiencing some of the challenges, being in accompaniment but not lifting a finger to construct, build, dig or paint anything.

I just witnessed such a trip last week: the person responsible for my getting involved in El Salvador in 1994 brought a group down from her parish. They were going to spend the week visiting historical places, church-related places, and having a little bit of relaxation, too. But they weren't going to do anything concrete. That is the way the trip she organised for us in 1994 was: going around El Salvador, two years after the signing of the peace accords and trying to understand how recent history had so affected everything and everyone.

Bishop Barahona thinks along those lines, too: Come meet us, spend time with us, get to know us, come back a few times, and then, if there's some project we can agree upon, then let's talk. Don't give us money until you do know us.

As I like to point out, it's not that people there are incapable; they are incredibly resourceful. It's just that sometimes they don't have the start-up funds to get a project going. But they certainly are capable.

What about my being canon missioner of the Anglican Church of El Salvador? My mission is a reverse mission: it's going down to El Salvador, finding out what is going on and then reporting back to the world their joys, accomplishments and challenges.

A very important caveat: these thoughts refer to short-term mission trips, not the arduous, dedicated work of long-term missioners (such as our querido Padre Mickey) who give up so much to walk alongside sisters and brothers of another place. What they do and are is something completely different.


[photo of Misión Emaus, Quito, Ecuador, being built by members of the congregation, February 2008]

Marking a passing

Putting this picture up is as uncharacteristic as my putting up Pinochet's photo but the late Jesse Helmes was really one of the first pols against whom I would fulminate greatly. My nascent concientisation (Pablo Freire) is linked to that man's strength in the US Congress.

In May 1984 I was sent to Nicaragua as part of a local ecumenical peace group (not Witnesses for Peace but along the same idea) sponsored by the then Episcopal chaplain at Rutgers University. My parents were livid (a cover for their fear?). If you remember back to that era, the world had just found out that the US had been mining the Nicaraguan harbours. Also, the House of Representatives was voting on whether or not to keep funding the Contras.

We went down and met with a Maryknoll sister, a bunch of community organisers, a women's sewing cooperative, some Episcopalian leaders, and even Ernesto Cardenal, the Nicaraguan Franciscan, opposition leader (in the Sandinista party) and then minister of culture. It was my first time in Central America, in a country that still hadn't been cleaned up from the 1976 earthquake, where downtown Managua had no street signs, a broke-down cathedral, and a war.

The last day of our trip, I grabbed up all the newspapers to see the Nicaraguan reports of the vote in the House of Reps in which Tip O'Neil, speaker, called the contras paid rapists and thieves (or words to that effect). Some thought it was great; others not.

So then along comes Jesse, with his obdurate disdain for foreign policy, his gag order on anything related to abortion or contraception, his support of the contras and basically being a major impediment to what I was coming to embrace, the progressive side of things. He became for me the man against whom to agitate.

Well, there will always be Jesse Helmes out there, ¿no? Maybe their focus has changed from foreign policy to internal affairs but they will always be there. The Jesse Helmes of the world will say likewise of people who think the opposite of them.

And e're it shall be.