By Katharine Gordon for the Holy Trinity Visitors

Among the many highlights of our trip were our time spent with the current children and mothers sponsored by Holy Trinity parishioners, our conversations with the dedicated teachers at CAPI, and our 2-day retreat to rural El Salvador with the catechists of María Madre.

Apadrinamiento Program:  We spent a substantial time with the children and mothers from the Apadrinamiento program. On Sunday, after Mass, we went to a water park for the day. The mothers were able to come with their children. It was a great opportunity for our introduction to the parish—we had the opportunity to play with the children and get to know the mothers in an atmosphere that gave them time away from their daily struggles. Sometimes, in the midst of the poverty of La Chacra (or any community that is suffering anywhere in the world, whether Anacostia or Afghanistan) it’s important to ultimately recognize the presence of Life. Salvadoran theologian Jon Sobrino, SJ writes that “God is beside Himself with joy and is delighted when He sees these millions of human beings—impoverished, depreciated, ignored, disappeared, and murdered—breathe, eat, and dance, live with each other, lend a hand to those of us who are not poor...” We spent another day walking around La Chacra, seeing where these children lived. We were able to understand a bit more about what was going on in their lives—from the mom scrambling to find a new place to live to escape domestic violence to the 6th grader who was learning to act in her first plays at her Jesuit middle school and spending the rest of her time learning how to play the guitar like Maná and Carlos Santana. While the realities of life in La Chacra won’t go away because of one day’s outing, this week did allow us to experience the beginnings of new friendships with a group of wonderful boys, girls, and mothers.

CAPI:  Holy Trinity’s material support of María Madre has long been focused on assisting CAPI. CAPI provides a holistic program of care to the children of working mothers, from newborns to 3rd graders. CAPI started over 20 years ago when the parish recognized that there were many mothers in desperate need of child care. When mothers had to spend the entire day selling tortillas, collecting cans to recycle, and doing laundry in other people’s houses, sometimes there was just no safe place for their young children. The social fabric that traditionally provided mothers with support (grandparents, aunts, siblings, and friends) was destroyed by the war that killed tens of thousands and forced hundreds of thousands into exile. Before CAPI started, one child was tied to the furniture and left alone in her shack—this was the safest place for her. Today, the war is over. But organized crime, lethal poverty, the lack of job opportunities, and the failures of the Salvadoran state make CAPI as essential as ever.

Today CAPI focuses on the integral development of the children in their care—educational, nutritional, familial, and spiritual. While its first priority is providing for the immediate needs of its children, making sure that they are getting the food they need in order to survive, it constantly looks towards the long-term needs of the community of La Chacra and El Salvador. We were overwhelmed by the dedication shown by the director Fernando Pacheco and his entire staff.

One example of this is their recent expansion into providing 1st through 3rd grade education for the students in the neighborhood who have been kicked out of other schools (both public and Catholic) because of behavior problems, some of which are rooted in learning disabilities and some of which are rooted in situations of dysfunction and violence. We heard stories about the extreme situations that these students come from and found ourselves amazed by the way that the CAPI team works with these children so they can successfully reenter normal schooling.

As Holy Trinity parishioners, we felt deeply honored that our parish could work with such a dynamic and vital ministry. While we provide critical financial assistance, we also know that our prayer and encouragement is critical. Thus, we were delighted to present CAPI with beautiful books written by the 8th grade Spanish students at Holy Trinity School.

Arcatao:  We spent two days at a retreat center in Arcatao, a rural area of the country, with three María Madre parishioners—Mancho, Delmi, and Reyna. Leaving San Salvador early in the morning, we traveled together to a place that had been destroyed by the war. We spoke with Fr. Miguel Vasquez, SJ about the continuing challenges in Arcatao; we visited a historical memory museum created by a group of women who decided, through prayer and discernment, that telling the stories of their family members could bring healing to their community; we attended a mass concelebrated by Fathers Miguel, Miguel, and Guillermo; with members of 3 other parishes, we shared a simple meal, protected from the pounding rain by friendship and a tin roof; we stood in the resplendent sunlight, surrounded by flowers and butterflies, at the site of a massacre. Intertwined with these experiences, we got to know Delmi and Reyna, the lead catechists at María Madre, and we came to feel we were truly involved in a common ministry.

Convivir:  Through our week at this parish, we felt a beautiful and challenging reconnection to who we are as persons and as Christians. The fundamental point of our delegation was to become friends with members of María Madre. Through shared meals, shared masses, shared hikes, shared stories, and shared silences, we came to understand each other in a new way. Reflecting on the experiences of the week with María Madre’s pastor, Padre Luis Salazar, we came to realize that this attitude of openness to friendship and shared prayer was the indispensable element of our sister parish relationship.

In the Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius says that we should “demand an internal knowledge of Jesus so that we may more love and follow him.” We feel honored to have had the opportunity to put this into practice with María Madre, part of the Universal Body of Christ, as we began to more deeply understand each other across borders, languages, sorrows, and joys.