March 2020 – Executive Director’s Reflections & News from El Salvador
Catholics will be familiar with the term, “Ordinary Time”. It refers to times within the Church’s annual liturgical cycle when there is no focus on a particular feast (such as Christmas). Rather, it is a celebration of our life with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each other in the Church, in its fullness. This has not been ordinary time.
COAR and COVID-19
At COAR: Wash your hands! Well, social distancing was a challenge for kindergarteners. El Salvador Given the current global situation surrounding the novel coronavirus, we felt it was important to post a short update on what is happening in El Salvador and specifically at COAR. As of April 16th there were 164 diagnosed cases with […]
September 2019 – Executive Director’s Reflections & News from El Salvador
From the Peace Mission’s Executive Director By Mary K. Stevenson The idea is NOT the Hard Part, so Here’s to You, Dear Donor Dear Donor to COAR – Let me tell you how much you mean to me – to the children too, of course – but to them, by way of me. Bill Gates […]
June 2019 – Executive Director’s Reflections & News from El Salvador
From the Peace Mission’s Executive Director By Mary K. Stevenson Preventing Faces of Fear In June I begin my regular summer of travel to parishes throughout North America to raise awareness and funds for COAR through the Mission Co-operative Plan of the Catholic Church. I will visit parishes that range from inner-city Miami, to rural […]
December 2018 – Executive Director’s Reflections & News from El Salvador
From the Peace Mission’s Executive Director By Mary K. Stevenson My Trail of Tears Monday, October 29th, on my way to see friends of COAR in SE Tennessee, I, literally, drove on the Trail of Tears. That is the path the Cherokee marched when President Andrew Jackson forced them off their land and out to western […]
St. Romero! Canonized Oct 14th 2018
COAR ~ the Community of Oscar A. Romero Celebrates St. Romero’s canonization October 14th 2018 COAR is the oldest extant organization to bear his name ~ more: Celebrated in Rome! COAR’s Executive Director, Mary, and the Director of the Children’s Village, Marta, were in Rome with 60,000 (yikes!) other St. Romero (and Pope St. Paul […]
More About Cardinal Rosa Chavez
COAR, the Community of Oscar A. Romero, is the oldest extant organization in the world to carry the name of Oscar Romero with the approval of the Archdiocese of San Salvador. Oscar Romero will be canonized in the fall of 2018. Note from COAR’s Executive Director: On April 28th, COAR honored Romero’s long-time friend and […]
Gangs Threaten All Civil Society: Worst violence since the WAR
“The violence is terrible. Gangs occupy every inch of this country. If you are young and you enter a neighborhood where you don’t live, they will shoot you dead on the spot. It has not been this bad since the war! No one is safe” remarked Rebeca (name changed for her protection). During our last […]
The Next Generation: Facing Reality with a SMILE
Did you know that 53% of all Salvadorans are under the age of 25. One half of the population is college aged or younger. That is a huge population beginning to enter the work force but with little life experience to guide them and a society in which “home” may be a cinder block house […]
25 Years After the Peace Accords: Catholic Church Still Planting Seeds of Hope
The banners on several online Salvadoran newspapers have recently proclaimed that it is the “25th Anniversary of the Peace Accords”. In an act of national reflection, online papers have begun to dedicate space to a societal discussion of what has changed in El Salvador since the Peace Treaty. Surprisingly, most of the discussion refers […]