Connected By Faith, Love, and Community: Visiting Our Sister Parish in El Salvador

 

Written by Mark Brooks, Seventh and Eighth Grade Language Arts and Literature Teacher at Saint Clement School.

Over spring break, a group of around forty parishioners, parish staff members, teachers, students, parents, Father Ken, Father Manny, and school principal Melissa Dan journeyed to La Colonia 22 de Abril in Soyapango, San Salvador in El Salvador. It was the first time that a Saint Clement group brought students to the sister parish, but Saint Clement has a long history of being present in 22 de Abril. Though that part of Central America was only six hours away by plane (and only an hour earlier than the central time zone), it is a world much different than the world in which we live in Chicago.

The community of 22 de Abril is visibly impoverished. When you go up the only road that leads into town, you notice this poverty.  

You notice that running water and electricity suddenly seem like luxuries. You notice the dogs in the streets, the trash on the sidewalks, and you notice how these things immediately make you feel like you are much farther than six hours and one time zone away from the comfort of your Chicago home. You notice that the houses are different, the air smells different, and the culture is different.

But, what you come to know are not these differences. Instead, when you open yourself up to the people (the church) of 22 de Abril, you notice how, despite the rampant poverty and violence that affects their everyday existence, the Salvadoran people are resilient.  

You notice that they hug you, they smile at you, they pray for and with you, and they immediately accept and love you. You notice that they carry these perspectives of acceptance and love outside of the doors of the church and live them out. You notice that the resurrected Christ is not just a picture on an apse in the tree of life, rather it is in the hearts and actions of the people of 22 de Abril everyday.

Suddenly, you can understand Oscar Romero better and his sentiment that, "If they kill me, I will rise again in the Salvadoran people." You can understand this when you see his tomb and celebrate Mass there with three priests from San Salvador, Mexico, and Chicago.  

You can understand this when artist Fernanado Llort describes to you in a small room that God is the inspiration for his art which he chose not to exploit and become rich from, but rather that he used his art to help over 10,000 other Salvadoran artists make a living. You can understand how his art is now iconic of the entire nation.

You can feel the gratitude of the students of the school in Credisa when you give them a Saint Clement uniform, which was once just a bunch of used clothes.

But more importantly and more lastingly you can feel your own gratitude for your change in perspective. You think back to the first day you went and what you noticed, and how those things are the signs of poverty that disguise the richness of the Salvadoran spirit to which you have connected through Mass, through empathy, and through being present with them.

I encourage you to visit 22 de Abril with Saint Clement Church or School in the future so that we can continue to stand in solidarity with our Salvadoran brothers and sisters in a way that is loving, productive, and life-giving.  

For details on the day-to-day activities of the trip, as well as more post-trip reflections from our travelers, please check out our blog on the Parish website.  

Stories of Stewards 

As part of our ongoing engagement process, we have come to realize the importance of parishioners sharing their personal stories of how they have connected with Saint Clement as an important factor in their lives. As a feature twice a month, we share the stories and reflections of our engaged parishioners who are living a stewardship life of prayer, service, and giving. This week we hear from the Saliba family: Tony, Moira, Anthony, and Magdalena.

"My husband Tony and I have been attending Saint Clement Church for more than 13 years. We have been what some may consider active parishioners for 11 of those years. Our son, Anthony is in 8th grade and our daughter Magdalena is in 5th grade at Saint Clement School. Our roles at Saint Clement have varied over the years, at both the school and the church.

The parish community has given our family an opportunity to grow in many varied ways over the course of these years. We have participated in a variety of activities, from being active in the School Parents Association, assisting in multiple ways with Anchor Ball, chipping in at Service Day, and attending Baptisms, First Communions, Confirmation and many other faith-based activities. Every experience has brought us closer to the community.

When our children were very young we attended 8:00 a.m. or 9:30 a.m. Sunday Mass, but as they got older we started to "mix it up" a bit, attending the 5:00 p.m. Mass on Saturdays. For some reason, which I cannot explain, I thought perhaps that 5:00 p.m. Mass would not be as fulfilling for us. But I was wrong. I have just as strong feelings of connection at Saturday Mass as I do at the Sunday Mass.

We recently returned from a trip to San Salvador with 34 other people from the parish. It is hard to put into words, just what an enriching experience this was. 

In San Salvador we were able to meet the people of the community that Clement Commits continuously helps. This includes our sister school and the parish in the community. We were welcomed as if we were family, by these people who have very little. Our time there was short but I realized that the charity we practice at Saint Clement has greatly helped and will continue to help this community. We could tell that our interaction with the people was truly appreciated as they knew we took the time, although brief, to come from Chicago to be with them. As Father Manny put it during our last Mass there, they appreciated us because we took the time to get to know them when their own country has forgotten them. 

I asked my two children on our plane ride home if they had to rank this trip amongst all of our trips taken, vacation and otherwise, where would they place it? They both said it was their #1 trip. My heart filled with joy knowing that my children got just as much out of this trip as those that we were visiting, helping.   

Saint Clement Parish has been, and will continue to be, a large and an integral component of our lives. The bond we share with our fellow parishioners and students, the teachers and our priests, continues to grow deeply and expand broadly. We are happy and further enriched through our relationships because of being part of Saint Clement Church and School, and it being an element of what forms our family."