Events Honoring "Anglican Women's Month"

Folkloric Dancers from the diocesan youth group perform at the dinner held in honor of the Anglican women of El Salvador




October is celebrated as "The Month of the Anglican Woman" in the Province of Central America, and it was well celebrated this year in the Diocese of El Salvador! The Diocesan Commission on Women's Ministry hosted a vigil, at which Amy and four other women from the diocese gave talks on "spiritual healing" for ourselves, our families, our communities, and our church. Each talk was over an hour long, a combined band from several of the local churches (a number of whom have studied guitar with Vince) enlivened the worshippers at intervals, and the vigil ended with the Holy Eucharist at 6AM!
A week later over 200 women, men, youth, and children enjoyed a "Prayer Dinner" hosted by the Diocesan Women's Commission. Women representing all of the congregations in the diocese were present and gave messages, a group of young women from San Salvador area churches enlivened us with traditional folk dance, and a wonderful time was had by all. Lt.-People from around the diocese enjoy the annual dinner. Rt.- San Andres Apostol vestry member Vilma Ayala gives a sermon at the all night vigil
Not to be left out, the churches in the greater Soyapango area to the east of San Salvador (San Andrés in Amatapec, Santa María Vírgen in Ilopango, and Santísima Trinidad in San Martín) hosted a ¨Mini-Congress" on women's ministry, lay and ordained, in the church. The mini-congreso began with a two-mile march for peace from the main boulevard that connects our communities (ironically, Boulevard de los Ejercitos, "Army Boulevard") up to San Andrés. All three of our communities have been heavily hit by violence over the past few months, and young men associated with both San Andrés and Santa María Vírgen have been killed in the gang's cross-fire. The march, in which about 40 people all dressed in white partipated, drew a lot of attention in the community. Once we arrived at the church, we continued singing some very enlivening songs, as Vince said "we freakin' rocked the joint!", and heard an encouraging message from Padre Julio of Santa María Vírgen. Speaking on the raising of Lazarus he said, ¨Christ asked the people to roll away the stone. That was possible for them. They couldn´t raise the dead. But they could roll away the stone. Christ asks us to do what is possible for us, and to leave the impossible to him, because God is a specialist in the impossible!¨ Amy gave a talk which answered theological and biblical objections to women´s ordained ministry, empowering people to explain these things to others who don´t understand in this heavily Roman Catholic context. Bishop Barahona arrived, vested in white (just a little too late for the march!) and spoke movingly about his experience with women´s ministry in the church. ¨We are very, very close to ordaining the first Salvadoran woman in El Salvador,¨ he said (the three women Bishop Barahona has ordained in El Salvador have all been North Americans). The mini-congreso closed with a Eucharist, at which Bishop Barahona presided, and just under 200 people were present. The people gathered signed a card of congratulations and support for Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. It was truly moving to share this event with our closest neighbor congregations, and we plan to have a lot more shared events in the future.

Soccer Victory and Gang Violence

Team members celebrate after winning the finals match.

We arrived back from a short trip to California just in time to attend the "Copa del Obispo," the ¨Bishop´s Cup,¨ a male and female youth soccer tournament sponsored annually by the Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador, this year on October 7 at El Maizal, the Diocesan agricultural development in Sonsonate. And, somewhat jet-lagged, we arrived at the Copa just in time to see the male team from San Andrés win the championship! The last thing I knew before we left, San Andrés was not going to present a team, as most of the youth had to work. But, they got it together, and, despite transportation problems (their bus ran out of gas halfway there), made it to the tournament. Even though they had few replacements and hadn't practiced, they played energetically and took the Cup!
who often have little opportunity for recreation. Of course people follow the games-- when Barcelona and Real Madrid play there's hardly anyone out (and forget going to the grocery store during the World Cup!)-- but just playing is almost as important, for everyone from kids kicking Soccer in the United States is not a good reference point for understanding ¨fútbol¨ in Latin America. Here, it is a passion. It is an incredible outlet of energy, especially among the youth, a hard plastic ball around in the streets to organized leagues in every small country municipality.
The San Andrés youth have been energized by their victory (this is the 3rd cup they´ve won in the eight year history of the tournament!) and plan to continue playing, planning soccer ¨encounters¨where they will go out and worship and play with the youth from other congregations around the country. They have dedicated their victory to Jorge Alberto Enriquez, who helped them to victory as goalie, and as his father commented, was a great soccer "aficcionado". Jorge was an active member of the church when he was younger. He turned 21 the day before the tournament, and just two weeks later, on October 22, was brutally killed by gang members from the neighboring territory, who mistook him for a member of the rival gang. ¨I hardly ever leave my house these days,¨ said our youth group president and team captain Luis Daniel Escobar at a youth meeting a couple of weeks later. ¨And when I leave to go to work, I wonder if I´ll come back.¨ Luis Daniel´s cousin was killed by the gangs a year ago in another case of mistaken identity. Everyone is nervous these days, but it´s the youth, especially the guys, that face the most danger every single day. The church needs to be there for them, to support them and encourage them in every way that we can. -Amy










Team Captain Luis Daniel receives the Champions trophy from Bishop Barahona


Team photo with La Reverenda

Julio César Rivera Received to the Deaconate

Our newest member of the clergy is presented to Bishop Barahona for reception as a Deacon.

Julio Rivera, 36, was received on October 14, 2006 as a deacon in the Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador, bringing our total number of clergy up to 13! Julio was ¨received¨ as a deacon because he was already ordained as a Roman Catholic priest; the Anglican Church recognizes Roman Catholic orders and so does not re-ordain its clergy when they seek to join the Anglican Church. Those clergy from the Roman Catholic Church seeking reception into the Anglican Church of El Salvador undergo an intense process and spend a year of intensive Anglican study at the Anglican Seminary in Mexico City. Julio took all of the vows in the Prayer Book service for the ordination of a deacon, but rather than laying his hands on Julio's head, Bishop Barahona took his hand and said, "Julio, we recognize you as a Deacon in Christ's One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church." In his sermon, Bishop Barahona likened this reception to "untying Julio's hands," which had been "tied" when he left the Roman Catholic Church, for deaconal ministry. When Julio is received as a priest, Bishop Barahona said, we will "untie his feet."
Julio is the second-youngest member of the clergy in the diocese (after Amy!) and brings a lot of energy and fresh ideas about evangelism and pastoral work. He is re-organizing the pastoral life of Santa María Virgen in Ilopango, where he has been assigned, around a ¨small community¨ model, which draws both on liberation theology´s base Christian communities and Evangelical ¨cell groups.¨ The small communities will meet weekly in people´s homes in the different geographical zones of the parish (which he is explaining to priests from the U.S. in the picture), and will become ¨nurseries¨of Christian formation and outreach.
Julio himself has an amazing story of growing up in El Salvador during the Civil War. His village was bombed by the government early on during the war, and he was separated from his parents and picked up by the Red Cross as an orphan. He was raised by a Roman Catholic priest until the war was over, and then, after finding out that his parents, who had fought with the guerilla, were actually still alive, was then reunited with them. Julio's father passed away last year, but his mother was present at his reception.