After cold-water showers and a pretty good night's sleep, we have a fairly early breakfast of bananas, frijoles, eggs, queso fresco, jam, and bread. Revda. Irma, ordained as deacon a few weeks ago, and her husband the Rev. David Alvarado are there to greet us. The plan is to visit San Franscisco de Asis in Lourdes for the morning Eucharist, come back for lunch, and then celebrate the afternoon Eucharist at San Miguel Arcangel in Quezaltepeque. Irma and David are warm, friendly and interesting - we look forward to getting to know them both.
We head out to Lourdes, Rvda. Irma's church, for the 8:30 service. The church lies in a depressed area on a bad, broken road. A few paces away is a public school, which educates about 400 students in two sessions per day. The church is modest but very lively and happy. They have a pretty tile floor and plastic chairs. The congregation is primarily under 30 years old. People help us with hymnals and prayer books, especially two little girls with smiling, twinkly eyes who can't yet read and who show us all the wrong pages. There are dogs, nursing mothers, and most exciting - fathers! - because today is Father's Day. We are later told that the youth group members, about 20 youth, have written and delivered invitations to each of their fathers (some of whom seldom attend church), donated gifts for a raffle, and designed a performance especially for this day. They are enormously invested and are aware that they have an important ministry to their own parents. The youth perform a wonderful set of songs, dances, and dramatic readings as well as bringing cake and soda around to everyone. We enjoy talking to them, joking with them, and sharing pictures after the service. It is clear that this church means a lot to every person in the parish.
We leave, reluctantly, as the rains really open up, turning the streets into rushing rivers. On the way home and during lunch, we start to hear some of the chilling facts about cities like Lourdes, which is almost completely controlled by the gangs. We are told that the school and church are allowed to operate there as long as they do not speak against the gangs. Two of the teachers at the school next door have been killed recently for advising young people not to join. All that the church can do is to involve the youth in activities as much as possible, educate them and show them good alternatives by giving them love, respect, community, and something important to do. Some of the kids have brothers or cousins in the gangs, and most of the youth, male and female, literally risk their lives every time they walk down the street.
In addition, the clergy are at constant risk of running afoul of them. To refuse the gang anything, such as the use of one's car for a killing spree, can be fatal. It is hard for us to imagine the level of stress and fear in these areas. The clergy, who are not necessarily protected by wearing a collar, must walk in love, faith and prayer as they minister to the people, trying to create a safe space and keep the fear and violence at bay. Irma hesitantly shares with us a close call that she had only last week. She tells us that she prayed for God to remove the particular situation from her and that her prayer had been answered. Several of us, shaken, pray with her for God to protect her and for a sense of His constant presence as she works in this area.
It should be noted that we, as North Americans, are not sharing or experiencing this same risk. The violence is primarily gang-on-gang and we are not particularly targeted, nor is it in the gangs' interest to do so. We are free to come and go in short- and long-term mission, but our Salvadoran brothers and sisters must live here immersed in an insecure world, raising their children, and managing the risk of violence on a daily basis.
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