The following notes have been edited to correct errors and to add explanations and updates. Parenthetical notes and remarks from the original are enclosed in parentheses. Present day [2022] updates are italicized and enclosed in square brackets.
3 October 1990, 4:00 PM - 22nd of April Parish
As the afternoon wanes toward evening, our bus takes us to the outskirts of San Salvador, to the church building in 22nd of April Parish, about which I have heard so much for so long. This was Father Jim Barnett's parish before he had to flee last November. We are introduced to "the tallest man in El Salvador" - Father Gerardo, a German priest who towers over everyone in our group, even Chris. We enter the church and sit on benches in the back while Father Gerardo tells us the history of the parish and explains some of the work they are doing.
"This parish was founded nearly twenty years ago, near a former garbage dump. The people who built here literally invaded the place. They were threatened in the beginning and told to leave. These were people who had lived in San Salvador and had lost their homes because they couldn't pay the rent. This has always been a parish of poor people; many are unemployed. Years later people who had been displaced from the countryside began to arrive.
"This area is divided into four sectors. I serve two of those sectors, 22nd of April and La Credisa. There are fifteen thousand displaced persons living in these two sectors now.
"The work of the parish is organized by lay commissions – for missionaries, for catechists, for day care, for schools, for the artisans, carpentry, liturgies, youth groups, the elderly. Every commission has two representatives who meet together every Thursday evening to evaluate the work and plan for the future. There is also a pastoral team, with members elected by the commissions for a one or a two year term. This team consists of three religious, three lay persons from the 22nd of April, and three lay persons from the other sector. Two Sisters and I are the religious on the team at present. There are other Sisters who work in the parish but are not on the pastoral team."
Question: What is the most difficult thing for you working here, and what gives you the most joy?
"It is difficult to live in another country. I notice more and more that I am a foreigner. One can learn another language, but one can never know what every word means. It is difficult to know what offends people. I can't do direct translations, because something which would be quite all right for me to say in German comes out being very offensive in Spanish. It is difficult for me not to live in my own culture, not to be allowed to read whatever I want and to have whatever books I want. This is a very oppressive and totalitarian society. Here I must be very careful all the time.
"As for joy, the work is very satisfying, especially with the children. There is more liberty here to do what I want with methods of education. In Germany the school system is very controlled."
Question: What is your community's relationship with the government?
"Since the offensive, there has been more development in this parish. They have installed drainage canals and built public housing. But they do it on an individual basis, and this divides the people. The government won't work with the community as a community.
"A majority of the children do not go to school. There are official textbooks, but we don't use them. We get other books from Mexico, Guatemala, Spain.
"The offensive was not very strong in 22nd of April. It was much worse in Credisa. I wore earplugs and slept very well on Saturday night! We opened the clinic on Sunday afternoon. Soldiers came to the foot of the street, but they feared the guerrillas and wouldn't advance up the street. Then helicopters came after the guerrillas, but they wounded and killed many civilians. Middle class people in the parish criticized us for opening the clinic. They said that we did it to help the guerrillas. So many of the middle class left our church and went over to the fundamentalists. But the reality was that the FMLN had their own clinic. They didn't need our facilities.
"On Tuesday we opened the church. The FMLN had told the people in La Credisa to evacuate. Some residents had been trapped in their homes by the fighting. They asked me to ask the FMLN to let them out. The FMLN said yes, if the people would go directly to the priests' home. Afterwards some of these same people that I helped said that my success in negotiating with the FMLN proved that I was a friend of the FMLN.
"The people in the community are very fearful, especially the poor. Under other conditions most of these people would be in favor of the revolution. But here people do not speak about politics. They are controlled by propaganda and counter-insurgency tactics.
"You know, when at first one speaks out of fear, one is aware of what one is doing. But after a while, you forget that what you are saying is said under fear. You think that it is your own idea. And you end up saying what the TV says. For example, young priests know the gospel and preach it. But after enduring conflict and opposition, they muffle what they say. And gradually they come to believe that their bland sermons are still the gospel message."
Father Gerardo excuses himself and hurries off to another appointment. Our group leaves the sanctuary and walks around to a small room built against the side of the church. Here the artisans' cooperative makes and sells decorated greeting cards, notebooks, and wooden items. The first timers get first chance at the shopping, then wait while the others make their purchases. I buy three small wooden crosses on thread to be worn around the neck, two larger crosses which can be used hanging on the wall, a set of twenty-five notecards, six wooden Christmas tree ornaments, and one hand-painted notebook.
Copyright © 2022 Marian L. Shatto
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