In March of 1980, the world received the news that the archbishop of San Salvador had been assassinated. Monsignor Oscar Romero was slain while saying mass at the Hospital of the Divina Providencia. Nine months later, the nation was shocked to hear of the rape and murder of four US churchwomen working with the poor and displaced in El Salvador. During the time of the civil war, a small group of people from the Peace and Justice Group at St. Peter’s began to study the issues relating to the war and the violations of human rights. Refugees were fleeing the country and moving into camps in Honduras. Quite often these people were simple farmers whose greatest crime was living on land that had become a battlefield. Taking everything they could carry, they would flee across the border to a less hostile country to the north. Increasing numbers of farmers as well as people in the city were being killed. In all, 70,000 lost their lives. The situation seemed hopeless from the point of view of a small group of people in Kansas City.

During this same time, a parish in Shawnee was becoming involved with the same people and the same issues. A parishioner there, Gigi Gruenke was involved with a national organization which had as its purpose the aid and relief of the Salvadoran people. SHARE--Salvadoran Humanitarian Aid, Relief and Education was seeking groups to become involved with communities in El Salvador. The presence of Internationals (US, Canadians, or Europeans particularly) in the country would diminish the degree to which the fighting would effect the general population and the chances that innocent people would be singled out as the target for atrocities. The parish at Good Shepherd in 1988 went to El Salvador and accompanied a group that had been driven from their homes back to El Salvador to establish a new community to the north of San Salvador. These refugees called their new community El Buen Pastor, after their new sister community in North America--Good Shepherd.

People at Visitation Parish in Kansas City were also becoming aware of the issue through a parishioner, Eileen Rudzinski. She moved that parish to involvement with SHARE and with El Salvador. They visited and formed a twinning relationship with an urban parish, Maria, Mardre de los Pobres.

With this degree of involvement in area parishes, it was hard for St. Peter’s to ignore the issue. In the summer of 1988, a group of refugees wanted to return home to El Salvador from Honduras. They appealed to SHARE for accompaniment to insure the safety of the group on their walk back to reclaim their homes and land. For this accompaniment, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton was invited to participate as well as clergy and lay people from all over the United States. An invitation or call went out to St. Peter’s pastor at that time, Father Gerald Waris. The spirit moved Father Waris to answer yes to this invitation and so with a great deal of spiritual preparation and support from the parish, he joined this national delegation to visit this war torn country and be present for the beleaguered people of El Salvador.

Father Waris was so impressed by the courage of the people and the importance of an international presence in the country that when he returned to the parish, he carried with him a message asking for others from St. Peter’s to travel to El Salvador with him the following summer. Three parishioners answered the call and became the first delegation from the parish. They were Nancy Caccamo, Kathy Pemberton, and Larry Ehren. They traveled with Father Waris and a group from the SHARE foundation to El Salvador. This was during the war and travel was dangerous, so safety issues were very carefully addressed. Caution was taken to prevent any harm coming to the travelers and those groups that they were visiting.

During the visit, the idea of twinning with a parish or community was proposed. SHARE gave the travelers the names of two communities. One was a rural community and the other was the parish of San Francisco de Asis. The group studied the two proposed links and decided that because of the similarity between us as urban parishes, San Francisco de Asis, a parish on the outskirts of San Salvador in a city called Mejicanos would be the best match. The boundaries of San Francisco de Asis includes a population of 70,000 people, many of whom were displaced by fighting in the countryside. The Passionist priests who staffed the parish were hard working and wanted to build a life for the members of their parish with what resources they had and with any help they could get from outside of the country. The priests and parishioners were interested in helping empower the people included in the parish to build lives and skills in spite of the turmoil around them. The early travelers brought this information to the Task Force and it was agree that the issue of twinning with San Francisco de Asis would be put to a vote by the members of St. Peter’s Parish.

In October of 1989, the parish voted to establish a twinning relationship with the members of San Francisco de Asis parish in Mejicanos, El Salvador. This relationship would include spiritual support of one another and financial support of the parish in El Salvador as needed. Visits would be exchanged on a regular basis and there would be an exchange of letters between the members of the two parishes. The parishioners of St. Peter’s joined those of St. Andrew’s By the Bay in Annapolis, MD and St. Mary’s in Fairfax, VA in a joined relationship with San Francisco de Asis. Each parish would strive to learn more about the other and to help the other continue to grow in understanding and living of the gospel message.

In January of 1992, Peace Accords were signed which ended the 12 year long Civil War. The country had much healing to begin. Reconciliation was not an easy task and is one that continues today. The country continues to work hard at rebuilding. Elections were held for the first time in March of 1994 and again in March of 1999. The country faces many difficulties in finding a direction for its economy and readjusting to the many returning immigrants from the US. San Francisco de Asis has seen growth and change in its population during this time.

Since October of 1989 there have been seventeen such delegations to San Francisco de Asis. These groups have included young and old, men and women, parents and children. Although the dangers faced by the early travelers during the civil war have dissipated, peacetime travel to El Salvador has risks as well, particularly due to rising crime rates in the country. All travelers were seeking to deepen their own understanding of the sister parish relationship, life in the third world, and the call to live out the gospel. Some follow the call to return again and again while others have found that the work they do here will make the relationship strong.

In addition to visits of parishioners from Kansas City, the priests and parishioners of San Francisco de Asis have visited with their sisters and brothers in the US. We have had visits from all three pastors, Father Pedro, Father Santiago, and Father Neri, as well as the associates from the parish, Father Mario and Father Julian. Other parishioners that have visited have included a representative of the Youth, Benjamin, the president of the Parish Council, Alejandro and this fall, Alma, of the women’s group and Auzel, director of the Technical Center. The visits are always enlightening and challenging.

Each fall around the time of the anniversary, St. Peter’s hosts a Fiesta to raise funds for projects at San Francisco de Asis and to send delegations to visit San Salvador. This has been a wonderful time of sharing among the parish and community building among the family of St. Peter’s. Food, fun, and games are the order of the evening and its success has increased each year.

It is the hope of all involved with the sister parish relationship that the outreach will continue and that there will always be blessed people from St. Peter’s who wish to be visitors to El Salvador or involved with San Francisco de Asis in some way.