By George Woodward

On the second Sunday in Lent, the Anglican Church of El Salvador, in conjunction

with Fundación Cristosal, unveiled a 15-foot high obelisk capped with a celtic cross and dedicated to the thou-sands of volunteers who have labored through the years in solidarity with the people of El Salvador and with its An-glican church.

The event took place at El Maisal, the last of the Anglican villages to be completed in a decade-long Episcopal Relief & Development project follow-ing the devastating 2001 earthquake suffered by this smallest of Central American countries.

Occupied by the military during El Salvador’s long civil war, El Maisal is now inhabited by more than 50 fami-lies living in tidy homes and served by sustainable agricultural projects, a women’s sewing cooperative, a new mi-cro-loan bakery, a community center, school and the Church of the Divine Providence.

Hope reigns, and celebration was much in evidence among the residents and dozens of visiting North Ameri-cans who have served through Cris-

Fundación Cristosal celebrates decade of labor in El Salvador

tosal to accompany the work of change unfolding in this and other vulnerable communities.

“Today we honor the witness of peo-ple who have come to serve without expecting anything in return,” said El Salvador Bishop Martín Barahona in his dedication address.

The event at El Maisal was the cap-stone to a week of events surrounding the 10th anniversary of Fundación Cristosal and the retirement of its founder, the Very Rev. Richard Bower, former dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Syracuse, in the Diocese of Central New York.

On Feb. 28, a 15-feet high obelisk capped with a celtic cross was dedicated in El Maisal, an Anglican village in El Salvador.

By George Woodward

On the second Sunday in Lent, the Anglican Church of El Salvador, in conjunction

with Fundación Cristosal, unveiled a 15-foot high obelisk capped with a celtic cross and dedicated to the thou-sands of volunteers who have labored through the years in solidarity with the people of El Salvador and with its An-glican church.

The event took place at El Maisal, the last of the Anglican villages to be completed in a decade-long Episcopal Relief & Development project follow-ing the devastating 2001 earthquake suffered by this smallest of Central American countries.

Occupied by the military during El Salvador’s long civil war, El Maisal is now inhabited by more than 50 fami-lies living in tidy homes and served by sustainable agricultural projects, a women’s sewing cooperative, a new mi-cro-loan bakery, a community center, school and the Church of the Divine Providence.

Hope reigns, and celebration was much in evidence among the residents and dozens of visiting North Ameri-cans who have served through Cris-

Fundación Cristosal celebrates decade of labor in El Salvador

tosal to accompany the work of change unfolding in this and other vulnerable communities.

“Today we honor the witness of peo-ple who have come to serve without expecting anything in return,” said El Salvador Bishop Martín Barahona in his dedication address.

The event at El Maisal was the cap-stone to a week of events surrounding the 10th anniversary of Fundación Cristosal and the retirement of its founder, the Very Rev. Richard Bower, former dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Syracuse, in the Diocese of Central New York.

On Feb. 28, a 15-feet high obelisk capped with a celtic cross was dedicated in El Maisal, an Anglican village in El Salvador.

“Padre Bower,” as he is affectionately known in Central and North America alike, has been a passionate advocate for social justice in Latin America, first meeting Barahona when they served together in Panama during the 1980s. Their deep friendship led, in 2000, to the establishment of the Vermont-in-corporated foundation to support and accompany the Anglican Church of El Salvador in its mission and ministry.

Cristosal has been key to the estab-lishment of the human rights office of the Salvadoran church, the expansion of the Church’s ministry into rural and eastern provinces of the country, theological education for clergy and la-ity, educational scholarships for young people, development of the commu-nications office, and transformational journeys, work projects and exchange visits for North Americans wishing to serve in El Salvador.

The new director of Fundación Cris-tosal, Noah Francis Bullock, has lived in El Salvador since 2005 while en-gaged in community and parish devel-opment, sustainable agriculture proj-ects, human rights advocacy and health programs with the Episcopal Church. He developed El Centro Pastoral de Jiquilisco in Usulutan Province, liv-ing and working in rural communities comprised of relocated ex-combatants and displaced persons from El Salva-dor’s civil war.

Bullock is now working with pho-tographer Jeff Hammond to create “That a More Humane World Might

Be,” a video documentary and book project on poverty, gang violence and development in El Salvador (www.elsal vadorproject.org.)

“It is poignant that the 10th anni-versary celebrations of Fundación Cris-tosal occur in the same month as the 30th anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, a coura-geous advocate against structural pov-erty, violence and exploitation,” said Bullock. “Our foundation continues to strive in the spirit of Romero.”

The Episcopal Church added Rome-ro and the Martyrs of El Salvador to Lesser Feasts and Fasts at General Con-vention 2009, with observations fall-ing on March 24, the day of Romero’s 1980 assassination.

Fundación Cristosal membership spans the United States and Canada, often grouping in local “base commu-nities” for prayer, study, reflection and organization in support of the work of the Anglican Church of El Salvador, its office of human rights and related proj-ects, and often working in cooperation with Episcopal Relief & Development, diocesan world mission committees, and existing companion parish and di-ocesan relationships.

To learn more about the work of Fundación Cristosal, visit its website at www.Cristosal.org.

—The Rev. George Woodward is rector of St. Edmund’s Episcopal Church, San Marino, California, and vice president of Fundación Cristosal.

“Padre Bower,” as he is affectionately known in Central and North America alike, has been a passionate advocate for social justice in Latin America, first meeting Barahona when they served together in Panama during the 1980s. Their deep friendship led, in 2000, to the establishment of the Vermont-in-corporated foundation to support and accompany the Anglican Church of El Salvador in its mission and ministry.

Cristosal has been key to the estab-lishment of the human rights office of the Salvadoran church, the expansion of the Church’s ministry into rural and eastern provinces of the country, theological education for clergy and la-ity, educational scholarships for young people, development of the commu-nications office, and transformational journeys, work projects and exchange visits for North Americans wishing to serve in El Salvador.

The new director of Fundación Cris-tosal, Noah Francis Bullock, has lived in El Salvador since 2005 while en-gaged in community and parish devel-opment, sustainable agriculture proj-ects, human rights advocacy and health programs with the Episcopal Church. He developed El Centro Pastoral de Jiquilisco in Usulutan Province, liv-ing and working in rural communities comprised of relocated ex-combatants and displaced persons from El Salva-dor’s civil war.

Bullock is now working with pho-tographer Jeff Hammond to create “That a More Humane World Might

Be,” a video documentary and book project on poverty, gang violence and development in El Salvador (www.elsal vadorproject.org.)

“It is poignant that the 10th anni-versary celebrations of Fundación Cris-tosal occur in the same month as the 30th anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, a coura-geous advocate against structural pov-erty, violence and exploitation,” said Bullock. “Our foundation continues to strive in the spirit of Romero.”

The Episcopal Church added Rome-ro and the Martyrs of El Salvador to Lesser Feasts and Fasts at General Con-vention 2009, with observations fall-ing on March 24, the day of Romero’s 1980 assassination.

Fundación Cristosal membership spans the United States and Canada, often grouping in local “base commu-nities” for prayer, study, reflection and organization in support of the work of the Anglican Church of El Salvador, its office of human rights and related proj-ects, and often working in cooperation with Episcopal Relief & Development, diocesan world mission committees, and existing companion parish and di-ocesan relationships.

To learn more about the work of Fundación Cristosal, visit its website at www.Cristosal.org.

—The Rev. George Woodward is rector of St. Edmund’s Episcopal Church, San Marino, California, and vice president of Fundación Cristosal.