“Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return”
The COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine are the backdrop for Lent, Easter, and the Resurrection. The children are healthy, thanks to you. They are praying for your health amidst this COVID-19 pandemic. Lent began at COAR on February 26th, Ash Wednesday, with the traditional Catholic ceremony of making a cross on the forehead with ashes of the […]
September 2019 – COAR’s Foundation Day: August 15th
Celebrated at the Cathedral where St. Romero is Buried August 15th 1980 was the day that Fr. Ken Myers, working in El Salvador with the Cleveland Latin American Mission Team, brought the first child from a refugee camp to his parish in Zaragoza. (Admittedly he decided the date in hindsight since he was responding to […]
June 2019 – A Richness of Bishops
Bishop Perez of Cleveland Visited the COAR Children in December, the most recent in a rich legacy of bishops. Above, Bishop of Cleveland Nelson Perez with a big group of the COAR children in December 2018. He listened to the children, asking them, “What do you want for your future and the future of your […]
December 2018 – Celebrating St. Romero’s Canonization at COAR
Ignacio won the school-wide St. Romero Poem Contest: The Salvadoran Traveler By Ignacio Cruz From one corner to another, then to all parts, an announcement to the world was proclaimed; the clamor of thousands of mouths and bells rang out from my tiny, scandalized country. So small is my land but yet so invincible, […]
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 […]
The Loss of a Cherished Friend: Saul Soriano, OFM Cap.
Capuchin friar Saul Soriano’s sudden accidental death leaves us heartbroken: the COAR children, the staff in the US and El Salvador, the volunteers, and our countless visitors. Saul was funny, kind, cheerful, and smart. His easy demeanor hid depths of strength and moral clarity. COAR is a better child-care facility, a home, because of him. […]
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 […]
COAR’s Chapel-on-the-Hill in need of Emergency T.L.C
This beautiful chapel, the spiritual center of the COAR community, is in need of a bit of T.L.C. (Tender-Loving-Care). The powerful summer storms and constant tremors that plague El Salvador do not take a detour around COAR’s school, foster care facility, clinic and chapel. But, the chapel, sitting high upon the hill for all to […]
Serving the Kids at COAR: A Letter of Introduction From the Congregation: Our Lady of the Pillar of Zaragoza
Three years ago, a missionary community from Spain contacted Archbishop Escobar to ask if they could be of service to children in El Salvador. The Archbishop welcomed them and suggested that they contact COAR Children’s Village. Since then, COAR has been home to four wonderful Catholic nuns who tutor our children, organize religious formation, lead […]