El Salvador Companion Diocese Committee

The joy of being part of the Companion Diocese ministry is almost impossible to describe.  The more we learn about our sisters and brothers in El Salvador the more we learn about love and hope.  The more we seek to give the more we receive.

A team of almost thirty medical, dental, and mental health professionals  and support people have traveled there each year and treated treated intestinal parasites, counseled in abusive situations, extracted teeth and gave dozens of other treatments.

Nine others – two clergy, one youth and six other adults – participated in a pilgrimage in February.  The day of Vacation Bible School for forty children in the poorest parish in the country was magic.  No one returns from these pilgrimages unchanged – many are compelled to go back or to compel others.

Several parishes are part of a scholarship ministry, providing small grants so children can finish school and even college.  Six hundred dollars a year or less enables a youth to pull themselves out of the grinding poverty that sentences most to lives of minimum wage – less than one dollar an hour.

No one is too poor to give, and no one is too rich to receive.

 

). These 1 week trips provide participants a great opportunity to get sweaty and dirty by joining a local Habitat affiliate in El Salvador build a house. The team forms a bond together and with the host family and the Habitat staff which blesses everyone. No construction experience is necessary. Ages 16 and 17 with a guardian or 18 and up are welcome to join the teams.