Project Via Crucis is a Pennsylvania-based ministry committed to building mutually empowering relationships between communities of faith here and communities of faith served by the Lutheran Church of El Salvador. The work of Project Via Crucis includes accompaniment of our Salvadoran sisters and brothers through delegations; sharing our resources by assisting Salvadoran communities with economic aid and projects that facilitate self-sufficiency; educating people in the United States about El Salvador; and advocacy on behalf of the Salvadoran poor to promote respect for human rights, non-violent resolution of conflict, and a society built on a just peace. (Statement of Purpose adopted September 1991.)
This ministry has sent a delegation to El Salvador each October since its founding in 1987, and with each passing year our relationships with the people we visit have deepened and broadened. In early 1991, after a lengthy process of discussion and discernment, Project Via Crucis committed itself to a sister relationship with a cluster of congregations associated with the Lutheran Church in the department of San Miguel. We did this knowing that San Miguel has had very little international attention, that it is an extremely militarized area, and that the Lutheran work there had been dealt a major set-back by the assassination of Pastor David Fernandez in 1984, a blow from which the congregations were only now recovering. We also knew that San Miguel was the family home of Bishop Medardo Gomez, and that the work there was again growing under the leadership of a dynamic young pastor, Walter Baires. The messages we were receiving indicated that sistering with San Miguel would be much more difficult than with one of the already conscienticized and thriving parishes nearer the capital, but that PVC had proven itself capable of fulfilling commitments over the years and that we would be equal to the challenge.
In order to give those returning delegates who wanted it the opportunity to spend several days in our new sister communities, and yet to provide to the first time delegates the widest possible range of meetings and visits, a two track delegation structure was arranged. The entire delegation would travel to and from El Salvador together, spending the first few days together in the guest house in San Salvador. Then the "campo" (country) group would leave for five days in San Miguel, while the "ciudad" (city) group continued in the capital with the usual schedule of appointments. On Saturday the ciudad group would join the campo group in San Miguel, spending one night in the countryside, and then all would return in the van to San Salvador after worship on Sunday to spend the final night together in the guest house before departing for the U.S. on Monday.
The logistics seemed complicated but possible, and in fact the two track process worked out well for our purposes. Delegate applications were received in April and training began in early May. By the time of the joint Board/Delegate retreat in mid-July it had become clear, however, that there was at least one major problem with splitting the delegation - all of the returning delegates wanted to be part of the campo group, which left no experienced person to provide continuity when the ciudad group visited organizations with which previous PVC delegations had made contacts.
I had returned from the 1990 trip glad that I had been a part of it but very much aware that my physical capabilities had been stretched to the limit at times, and therefore convinced that my energies were better spent working in this country as support for future delegations. It was as a board member that I began the July retreat, but it was as a potential delegate that I ended it. The call was clear to me; I was to be the returning delegate who stayed with the ciudad group. Suddenly, with less than three months to prepare, I was going back to El Salvador!
Everything fell into place so rapidly that I was easily convinced that I was following the Spirit's leading in making my decision. One of the things we enjoyed at the retreat was music making, and I remembered the request of the musicians of the village where we stayed overnight last year for additional instruments. Tuesday evening after the retreat I walked into the used instrument shop in Lititz and walked out a half hour later the proud owner of an old student violin. Fiddle, bow, shoulder pad, a new set of strings, and a hunk of rosin, all in a sturdy plush-lined case, and the balance on my Visa had been increased by a bit less than $175.00. A Stradivarius this wasn't, but a fine, sensitive instrument would never survive village conditions anyway. This one was far more practical for the purpose.
As the time grew close for departure the usual stresses of preparation were compounded by the disappointing news that Fr. Chris Eggleton, who had led the 1989 and 1990 delegations and who had agreed to go with us again, was compelled to withdraw from the trip because his Provincial had changed his mind and was refusing Chris permission to go. With just a few weeks remaining before our departure date, we had a mad scramble to find another leader, but with great good fortune were able to secure the services of Gary Cozette, widely regarded as one of the best delegation leaders working through the SHARE Foundation. Gary lived in El Salvador for three years in the mid-'eighties, and now works for Sanctuary of Chicago. He is extremely well versed in the history and political reality of the country, and proved to be a walking encyclopedia of information as we traveled around El Salvador.
As things finally sorted themselves out, then, the eleven delegates who left Washington, D.C. on Saturday morning, 11 October 1991, were as follows:
On the Campo track:
Linda Crockett - founding member of Project Via Crucis, and Project Coordinator for the past two years, making her fourth trip to El Salvador. She is in her mid-thirties, married with two teen-aged sons, and employed as Stock Transfer Administrator by Susquehanna Bancshares, Inc., the holding company for Farmers First Bank, in Lititz.
Sally Bartling - returning for her third trip to El Salvador. A dental technician in her late thirties, Sally relates wonderfully with the children we meet in the villages. Her luggage included fifteen soccer balls, and seven hundred tooth brushes. She is also a gifted artist who spent some time each trip sketching the many expressive faces we encountered.
Gregg Knepp - a second-time delegate and the youngest, at 27, of our group. Gregg works for Tressler Lutheran Services, primarily as an advocate for the homeless, and is based in Selinsgrove. Gregg tends to be on the quiet side, and surprised everyone with his Spanish once the group was out in the countryside.
Phyetta "Jake" Clabaugh - another second-time delegate, Jake is a sturdy, no-nonsense homemaker from Hanover who has reared five children and can always find a baby to hold when we arrive in a village. Her congregation is in the process of deciding to become a sister parish under the auspices of Project Via Crucis.
George Yoder - a first-time delegate, George chose to be part of the campo group because he is pastor of First Lutheran in Carlisle, which is our first fully-committed sister parish. Cyril and Jean, who were 1990 delegates and are members of the board, are part of his congregation. A tall, gentle, sandy-haired man, George is married and the father of three teen-agers.
On the Ciudad track:
Mary Brubaker - a professional actress and the wife of a retired drama professor from Franklin and Marshall College, Mary at 69 was both our oldest and our most widely-traveled delegate. As a member of the social justice committee at Trinity Lutheran, a large urban church in Lancaster, she has an understanding of political advocacy, while her training in the arts, photography as well as drama, makes her an acute and sensitive observer of her surroundings.
Wanda Murren Colgan - a journalist and editor of the Hanover Evening Sun, Wanda came with a background of experience in traveling to Nicaragua with Project Gettysburg/Leon. She is mid-thirties, married, and the mother of three sons. At first very quiet and reserved, Wanda blossomed as the days went on into a very articulate presenter and questioner.
Kathy Kleppinger - A few years ago Kathy left a successful career in banking to become Executive Director of the YWCA in Reading. Married to a doctor, she is accustomed to a very sophisticated social milieu.
Betsy Lee - the daughter of missionaries, Betsy spent the first ten years of her life in Hong Kong, and is now a pastor serving two small Lutheran congregations in the Upper Susquehanna Synod. At 32 she was our second youngest delegate, but brought a wide range of knowledge of worldwide church mission work. Her cousin and his wife are two of the long-term U.S. church workers with whom PVC has had contact in San Salvador.
Ruth Louise "Lucy" Ruccius - the widow of a bank president, Lucy had to leave her own career in health care seven years ago when she became legally blind. Her approach to life is a sweet serenity and acceptance.
Marian L. Shatto - second-time delegate, Mortgage Administrator at Farmers First Bank, recent MAR graduate of Lancaster Theological Seminary, 46 years old and single, the "I" of this narrative.
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