The Central Baptist Church El Salvador Partners Mission Group, aka "Salvador Partners," facilitates ongoing relationships between members and friends of CBC and persons, congregations, and groups in El Salvador with the intention of mutual learning and sharing of fellowship, resources, and experiences.
Recognizing our differences and our commonalities, we are committed to accompanying one another and our Salvadoran partners in our respective journeys to build a just and sustainable society.
To learn more about Salvadoran Pastors Ruth and Alex Orantes, and for information about contributing to support their ministries in El Salvador, please visit www.CieloAzulFund.blogspot.com. asdfjkalsjd;f
Ruth Orantes sends a report that November has been very busy and full of many blessings for the community in Santa Ana! The “Open Doors” annual community outreach project at Shekina had more than 85 people attending workshops led by the young adults and several of the older women of the church.
During the same time, Shekina received a delegation from Cedar Hills Baptist Church in Oregon, which has partnered with Shekina to sponsor a number of medical clinics in Atiquizaya over the past few years.
This year, the medical clinics were offered in coordination with the mayor's office in Santa Ana and with the help of FMLN youth. Shekina's teenagers and young adults worked very hard to plan logistics and to help with translation. In addition to the Oregon delegation members, there were doctors, nurses, and physical therapists from Santa Ana who provided care. The clinics were offered for four days in San Luis La Planta and three days in El Ranchador. More than 1500 people received medical care during the one week of the clinics!
To see more photos of the medical clinic, click here.
Bernhard Voegeli, who recently visited CBC from Shekina, described the communities where the medical clinics were held:
These are very poor communities. The income there (if there is work) is $1 USD per day. It is very conflictive and dominated by the maras (Salvadoran gangs) 18 and 13. Killing is happening often, for as little as 50 US cents...We were protected by a police patrol and felt very secure as the people appreciated our work.
Ruth also sends a thank you to CBC for welcoming Fabiola:
Y con respecto a Fabiola.... Gracias por que todos la estan atendiendo muy bien! Ella nos escribe todas las semanas y cada ves se siente mas feliz entre ustedes.
In worship at Central Baptist Church today, we joined in a litany of hope for El Salvador, written for the congregation by Kathleen Bailey. This is our community's prayerful response to reports of increasing violence, especially in reflections recently shared with us by Alex Orantes. (See previous post with Alex's reflections that inspired this prayer.)
In this season, we remember the upcoming anniversaries of the martyrdom of the Jesuits, their housekeeper, and her daughter on Nov 16, 1989, as well as the four U.S. churchwomen on Dec 2, 1980. We pray for all who are still today struggling against violence and for those who work to transform our communities into places where peace is a reality.
The full text of the litany is included below. Watch the video here, or click to watch the youtube video of our prayer.
A Prayer of Hope for El Salvador
Leader 1: The Light shines in the darkness,
Leader 2: And the darkness cannot put out the Light!
People: God of Light and Life, no darkness is too deep for your illumination, no wound so grave as to be beyond your healing. O God, your heart beats within us for the Salvadoran land and for its people. Send your Spirit among them to succor, sustain, and comfort those who are uprooted, injured and dying in the terrible wake of violence.
Leader 2: The Light shines in the darkness,
People: And the darkness cannot put out the Light!
Leader 1: We remember the darkness in 1980 when Archbishop Romero was assassinated, and we remember his words, “Justice cannot be killed.” Lord, in your mercy,
All: Hear our prayer.
Leader 2: We remember the darkness also in 1980 when the four church women, Dorothy Kazel, Jean Donovan, Ita Ford and Maura Clarke were assassinated. The night before she died, Ita Ford quoted Romero, saying, “One who is committed to the poor must risk the same fate as the poor. And in El Salvador we know what the fate of the poor signifies: to disappear, to be tortured, to be captive and found dead.” Lord, in your mercy,
All: Hear our prayer.
Leader 1: We remember the darkness in 1989 when six Jesuit priests from the University of Central America, their housekeeper and her 15 year old daughter were brutally murdered. Lord, in your mercy,
All: Hear our prayer.
Leader 2: Now, in 2009, we know the darkness again as we lift up to You in prayer: two old men slain by machetes; a young husband—trying to support his pregnant wife—shot under a streetlight; a fruit-seller shot without mercy outside the gates of the Baptist School in Santa Ana; the pastor of our partner church and our friend, Ruth Orantes, robbed and grieved; and a country once again knowing the fear of daily violence on their streets and in their neighborhoods, a country with one of the highest rates of homicide in the world.Lord, in your mercy,
All:Hear our prayer.
Leader 1: Guide us as we continue to walk with our Salvadoran sisters and brothers. Guide us as we accompany your faith communities who offer places of refuge to the victims of violence in El Salvador.
Leader 2: You do not leave your people to suffer alone, but we know that You stand close, even in the terrors of the night. You bring the light of hope even in the darkness of oppression.
People: And the darkness cannot put out the Light!
Leader 1: In your mercy and grace, transform hearts and minds so that there might be an end to the violence, an end to the menacing, an end to terror, an end to hatred and, finally, an end to killing so that the peace which so many have died trying to birth might be reality.
All: May God’s Light be with us all.
Litany by Kathleen Bailey, member of Central Baptist Church and El Salvador Partners
The past month has been a full and busy one for our friends at Shekina in Santa Ana. A special service on May 3rd marking the congregation's 17th anniversary was attended by representatives of many Baptist congregations. On June 7th, Shekina celebrated the completion of the walls and gates for Shekina's Christian Social Center by symbolically presenting a key to the property to one of the children of the congregation.
Bernhard, a member of Shekina, sends these photos and descriptions of the celebrations. For more images and videos, click on the links below.
17th Anniversary photosIt was a family festivity: of the congregation, of the Baptist churches of El Salvador sending delegations from all over the country and of the international Shekina family with many messages (and donations!) from Holland, Sweden, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico as well as from different parts in the US. Shekina's Christian Social Center photos The reason for these photos and videos (with sound!) is the international implication in this (regular) Shekina church service on Sunday at 9:00. We have friends in Sweden, Holland, Costa Rica, Switzerland and different parts of the United States, who dream with us of the Shekina Christian Social Center. June 7th 2009 was the end of the construction of the walls (necessary for security) and the entrance through a sliding door from the church. The youngsters (and their parents) mentioned already, that campments away are no more necessary as all can be done now on church grounds and helps to save costs... Before the turning over the key of the porton (gateway) there were acknowledgments to God indeed and also the different contributers CBC Wayne PA, Madison IND and Portland OR, our main sister churches (with their active contributions).
We invite you to attend a briefing on the upcoming national elections in El Salvador. The gathering will take place at 7:00pm on Tuesday, January 13, in the Gomez Room at Central Baptist Church.
Jose Artiga, Executive Director of the SHARE Foundation, will be present to discuss the election and SHARE's election monitoring plans for the March 2009 presidential elections.Since the Peace Accords were signed in 1991, SHARE has facilitated a US Observer presence for each national election in support of the communities that SHARE has partnered with in its development, human rights and citizen participation programs. This March, over 100 observers will be a part of SHARE's effort.
Expectations are high that the 2009 elections may finally break the right wing ARENA partyʼs hold on the presidency. The FMLN candidate for president, Mauricio Funes, is a 49 year old TV commentator who has often been critical of ARENA. For the first time in this election, the FMLN has nominated a person who was not a guerilla commandante during the 12 year civil war. Members of our sister churches have been highly motivated to support his candidacy. The attached photo shows Pastor Alex Orantes, from Iglesia Shalom, participating in a public forum with Mauricio Funes recently.
José Artiga, Executive Director of the SHARE Foundation: Building a New El Salvador Today, has over 27 years experience in the United States working on El Salvador and community development issues. After arriving in the United States from his native El Salvador in 1980, barely escaping the death squads, he helped develop the Sanctuary Movement in the U.S. to help other refugees fleeing oppression and violence. He also led the “Going Home Campaign” to provide support to Salvadoran refugees based in Honduras returning to their country.
Please join CBC's El Salvador Partners in welcoming Jose to talk to us about the March 2009 elections.
7:00pm, Tuesday, January 13, in The Gomez Room Central Baptist Church / 106 West Lancaster Ave. / Wayne, PA 19087
IMPORTANT NOTE: For this evening gathering, enter through the church office entrance located in the back, across from the main post office and public library on West Wayne Avenue.
Our friends at Shekina have just completed the November "Puertas Abiertas" community outreach events. Pastor Ruth Orantes reports that it was a big success again this year. Here is a link to see additional photos of the activities Shekina organized for children and adults in the neighborhood.
As most of you know, God made last week the dream of SHEKINA become true: to travel to Costa Rica with ALL our jovenes. We were invited from our sister church Iglesia Bautista Santa Tomas. It was wonderful. By clicking on the photowebsite you can take part (a little bit!). A short video is included in the first service picture series. Shekina Youth Photo Album from Costa Rica
Bendiciones!
Eglantina y Bernardo Iglesia Bautista Shekina Santa Ana, El Salvador
This week marks the 31st anniversary of the martyrdom of Fr. Rutilio Grande on March 12, 1977. The assassination of this Jesuit priest who was speaking out against the injustices of an oppressive government was a turning point for El Salvador and a catalytic event in the live of Archbishop Oscar Romero. Read a brief biography and reflection on the legacy of Rutilio Grande on the SHARE Foundation website, including this excerpt from William J. O’Malley, SJ, The Voice of Blood: Five Christian Martyrs of Our Time (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1980):
Increasingly, Grande began to exemplify a new church in El Salvador , committed to awakening in the poor a sense of their dignity and rights as children of God. This was s time when the social contradictions in El Salvador were building to a violent crisis. In this atmosphere, Grande acquired a reputation as a “radical” priest, an enemy of the system. With the bishops facing pressure to “do something” about this troublesome influence, Grande resigned from his position in the seminary and took up an assignment as pastor of Aguilares, a small town near his birthplace. There he established a vigorous pastoral ministry, training lay catechists to insert the gospel message throughout the community. In base communities, peasants studied the word of God and in that light raised critical questions about the sources of their oppression. Grande’s sermons on social justice were infamous among the town’s elite, and once again the pressure mounted on him to have him silenced.
In March 2002, a group from CBC took part in a SHARE delegation to El Salvador for the 25th anniversary commemorations of Fr. Rutilio Grande.
In addition to participating in the march along the road where Rutilio Grande was assassinated and celebration events in the town of Aguilares, we visited with our friends in Santa Ana and Atiquizaya and traveled to the Lower Lempa to learn about a women's shrimp cooperative and other successful rural cooperatives.
Thank you to Andy Smith for sharing these images from the 2002 delegation and the march from El Paisnal to Aguilares. To see more of Andy's images from the 2002 delegation, visit these links:
Kathy, Gwenyth, and Caroline returned on Monday night from the weekend events at the SOA in Columbus, GA. We were inspired by lots of great music (Holly Near and Indigo Girls, for starters), great speakers (Rabbi Michael Lerner, Fr. Roy Bourgeois, others), workshops on non-violence, theater performances. On Sunday, we carried the set of crosses made at CBC and shared several of them with others in the crowd as we all took part in the solemn procession. We'll be writing up some reflections from the experience, and we brought home resources to share at CBC.
A few things to look for in the slide show above:
college and high school students, grandmothers and grandfathers, Salvadorans, families, friends from SHARE and the Baptist Peace Fellowship
"non-conforming" crosses from CBC being broken down to size as required by police before we could enter the vigil area
chain link and barbed wire fence lined with crosses and one Star of David
military police surveying the crowd from raised platforms and police helicopter circling the events
giant puppet of Rufina Amaya (sole survivor of the El Mozote massacre) with outstretched arms placed against the chain link fence at the very end of the day
The SOA Watch estimates that there were 25,000 - 30,000 people attending the protests. (The police estimate was 11,000.)Eleven people ranging in age from 25 to 76, including one man from Pennsylvania, were arrested on Sunday for acts of civil disobedience and are scheduled for federal criminal trial January 28, 2008 for trespass - punishable up to six months in federal prison. Three others were arrested at the entrance of the vigil site for refusing to relinquish crosses whose size exceeded Columbus police regulations. Read all of their stories and see photos and videos from the weekend at www.soaw.org.
You can find a number of videos on line at YouTube posted by Eduardo, a young adult member of Shekina in Santa Ana. Eduardo has traveled with the CBC Youth Delegations and is a leader among the young people at Shekina. Click on the video above and the links below to see some videos of youth activities and projects at Shekina and Shalom. Look for familiar faces!
Tucumay Camones - Todas las más de 100 personas asesinadas en Tucumay Camones en 1980
Maria Christina Gomez - Salvadoran Baptist, community leader, friend of CBC.
Miguel Angel Portillo - Compañero de estudios en el Instituto Teológico Bautista de El Salvador, en el tiempo que nosotros eramos seminaristas. El fue desaparecido en noviembre de 1989.
Raphael Aguinada - asesinado el 26 de septiembre de 1975 al salir de una reunión sindical, fungía como secretario general de la Fundación Unitaria Sindical (FUSS) diputado del Partido Unión Democrática Nacionalista (UDN), ante la Asamble Legislativa. Salvador Rodriguez - pastor bautista, asesinado a principio de los años 80 en Chapeltique, San Miguel. Pastor joven que mostró en vida su conciencia social y política a través de su practica y de su predica. Raphael Aguinada Deras - asesinado el 26 de septiembre de 1975 al salir de una reunión sindical, fungía como secretario general de la Fundación Unitaria Sindical (FUSS) diputado del Partido Unión Democrática Nacionalista (UDN), ante la Asamble Legislativa. Salvador Sanchez - joven periodista quien trabajaba con YSUCA, Maya Visión y Radio cadena Mi Gente. Identificado con el Movimiento Social y con la Verdad. Asesinado Miguel Angel Orantes - fue asesinado en 1974 por la Guardia Nacional. Era maestro organizado en ANDES 21 de Junio y en la Unión Nacional Opositora (UNO). El es parte de la inmensa lista de personas anonimas que lucharon y por la vida y la justicia fueron asesinadas. Padre de Alex.
Galia Deras -hija también de Rafael Aguiñada, asesinada en enero de 1990 en Guazapa. Era combatiente. Ellos entregaron su vida por luchar por la justicia.
From the "Mothers in Arms" book project:
Sonia / Hermano de Marisol Galindo / Mujeres del Frente / Samuel / La Quesera - 600 to 800 innocent people, mostly women, children, and elders / Companeros de Claudia / El Mozote
2006 Shekina Delegation meeting with Alliance of Baptists in Washington DC
Clara Luz teaches CBC youth to make pupusas
2004 Youth Delegation lunch at Shalom
2004 Presidential Elections in Atiquzaya
2002 Rutilio Grande Delegation
A brief history of CBC's relationships with El Salvador
Central Baptist Church has a long history of commitment to building relationships in Central America, beginning with the congregation's vote in 1984 to participate in the Sanctuary Movement during the war in El Salvador. Mauricio, our first sanctuary refugee, arrived at CBC in February 1985.
Delegations of congregation members have traveled to El Salvador on numerous occasions. We have participated in emergency rebuilding efforts after hurricanes and floods, worked on building a worship space in Santa Elena, represented Philadelphia area congregations with our sister city program in Las Anonas, provided financial support for many projects, supported work at the Baptist Seminary in Santa Ana, participated in official anniversary events honoring Archbishop Oscar Romero and others, worked as official observers during elections, and established enduring personal friendships with our partner congregations.
In addition, we regularly host visitors from El Salvador, both personal friends and also representatives from various Salvadoran organizations. On two occasions in the past, we have provided extended housing and hospitality to Salvadoran students enrolled in graduate programs in our area. Pastors from our partner churches in Santa Elena, Santa Ana, and Atiquizaya have visited our congregation, as well as delegations of members of those churches.
