Cleveland Bishop Malesic and companions :) visit COAR

Bishop Malesic and Cleveland clergy retreat visit COAR

September: Several of the COAR kids (those not in school that afternoon) and our visitors.  Bishop Malesic, seated in the center, wearing a large cross on a chain . . .

Bishop Malesic and Carlos

Bishop Malesic shares his cross with Carlos Alberto, who is delighted (and momentarily speechless (that won’t last 😊)

Bishop Malesic and Cleveland clergy at our chapel

No visit to COAR is complete without a visit to the Chapel of St. Joseph, the symbol of safety, family, and refuge during the war.  Now those values form the foundation of our community’s striving for peace, equity, and the lasting love of family and solidarity.

For those new to COAR: we were founded in 1980, at the beginning of El Salvador’s civil war, by a few members of the Cleveland Latin American Mission (CLAM) Team, serving in El Salvador since 1964.  Therefore, most groups visiting El Salvador and the CLAM Team’s work and history there, include a visit to COAR.  However, COAR has been the local parish school and a program of child care of the Archdiocese of San Salvador since about 1983. (To read our history, click here . . . )

Courtesy of the Diocese of Cleveland website:
A group of priests and deacons accompanied Bishop Edward Malesic on a five-day visit to El Salvador Sept. 11-16. In addition to a retreat, they observed the 60th anniversary of the diocesan mission in San Salvador.  “It was a memorable visit,” the bishop said. Father Steve Vellenga, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Painesville and director of the diocesan Mission Office, was among those who made the trip with the bishop.

(For more on the Cleveland Diocese website, click here . . . )