Catholic in the City: A Woman's Journey to Living Out Her Faith

A week and a half ago I watched a movie called " Voces Inocentes/Innocent Voices ".  The movie was made in 2004, 12 years after the civil war in El Salvador ended.   Voces  depicts the story of children during the Salvadorian civil war ( 1979-1992 ).  During the civil war children, especially young boys, not fully understanding what was going on, had to choose an allegiance - either to the guerrillas or to the government army.  Neither group was free of violence.  To see the depiction of the thought process and emotions of these children stretched my mind.  Prior to becoming a mother I had read about child soldiers in Africa, but for some reason that was a bit intangible for me - both because I had yet to have a child of my own and because I have never been to Africa.  Something about going to El Salvador, understanding its history a little bit more, and being a mother, has given me a deeper understanding of the complexity that still lives in the minds of these children who

We were told that El Salvador is doing 50% better than all of the countries around the world and 50% worse than all of the countries around the world - when it comes to poverty, violence, education, health care, and access to resources.  We also learned that 90% of all of the drinking water in El Salvador is contaminated, therefore to have clean drinking water, people, if they can afford it, need to drink bottled water.  Many people in El Salvador do not have this luxury.  We visited many people that had a spout where water comes out of.  Depending on the community sometimes the water comes out of this spout one time every other week or one time a month.  Unfortunately those who have this spout have to constantly keep a bucket under the spout because they do not know the exact day and time the water will spring forth - and this water is not clean drinking water.  I have noticed that many developing countries I have visited have a scarcity of clean natural water.  Not having access to

Ever since my trip to Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina in 2008, Maryknoll Lay Missioners ( http://www.mklm.org/ ) have been in my heart.  The core values of of the missioners: Gospel values, option for the poor, conversion, witness, crossing cross cultural boundaries, community, forming ecclesial teams, and building bridges with the U.S. church, really resonate with me.  This particular trip was sponsored by both Maryknoll and JustFaith Ministries ( http://www.justfaith.org/ ).  Maryknoll Lay Missioners were the main tour guides for us while were were in El Salvador.  Maryknoll has been in El Salvador for almost 50 years.   On Saturday, August 3rd, we visited the site of where four church women - two Maryknoll Sisters, one Ursline sister and a lay missioner - Jean Donovan, were martyred in Santiago Nonualco.  One of the things that struck me most was that we met a priest, Fr. John, who was on site the day the women were found dead.  This same priest had also carried Romero's casket

Ever since I learned about Oscar Romero and the Jesuit martyrs, El Salvador has been a place I have wanted to visit.  Prior to going I knew that El Salvador was sacred ground. Mike and I arrived to El Salvador on Friday, August 2nd.  Once the tires of the plane hit the tarmac tears started to form in my eyes.  I had arrived.  Looking out the airplane windows I saw endless green, beauty, and serenity.  It was hard for me to fully imagine the bloodshed that had occurred in such a gorgeous place during the Salvadorian civil war.    At the Retreat Center. Going through security, customs, and gathering our luggage was easy.  Mike and I had a cute conversation with the lady whom stamped our passports.  We met up with our group outside of the airport near the Subway.  Our group was quite easy to spot because from what I could tell we were the only Americans there that afternoon.  While finding our bus was a little chaotic, everything else about the airport and the drive to the ret