Bendición de Dios ~ Blessing of God
COAR’s parish pastor, Fr. Vladimir, says mass at the big parish in town (see our town’s fiesta, click here), of course, and at the COAR chapel of St. Joseph, on our campus. But as with most parish priests in El Salvador he also has a circuit of small community parishes he visits each month. It is a chance for celebration and community bonding. There are usually pupusas and tamales, hot chocolate, and the occasional cow that must be shooed away.
Half of the people in this picture, clustered in the center, are current or former COAR students or their parents – or grandparents!
Also at mass were visitors from St. Romero Parish in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, one of the first in the country to be named for St. Romero! We arrived by the usual mode of travel: Fr. Vladimir’s pick-up truck. Fr. Jay greeted arrivals and concelebrated the mass with Fr. Vladimir.
And we were reminded of the old Salvadoran saying: to be among the corn is to be near to God.