PARTNERS IN SOLIDARITY

By Marty Denzer

Seven Catholic parishes in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph support the education of children and young adults in 10 communities in El Salvador through The Center for Exchange and Solidarity — “Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad (CIS)” — to help them build better futures for themselves.

Founded in 1993 after the signing of the Peace Accords that ended the Salvadoran Civil War, groups from the U.S., Canada and Europe met with grass-roots Salvadoran groups. The goal was to address the root causes of war and develop a people-to-people exchange and accompaniment center for Salvadoran communities pursuing social and economic justice and participatory

Parish Partnerships

democracy. Leslie Schuld is a co-founder and CIS executive director since 1997.

CIS has several programs assisting Salvadorans. A scholarship and training program for students in low-income communities seeks to help them attain a good education and help prevent violence. Another effort is a clean water program — families pay $10 for a filter to purify water collected from neighborhood wells.

Those who sponsor educational opportunities for Salvadoran youths, called “solidarity partners,” offer the warmth of loving friendships, communication and walking in solidarity with the youths and their families.

lating. The Kansas City area parishes align with Catholic social teaching in walking in solidarity but letting the Salvadoran people take the lead in the most helpful kinds of support, including libraries, additional housing, funding for commuting to universities and, too often, funeral expenses.

This is not solely a long-distance effort, though. Every other year, delegations from Kansas City area parishes travel to their partner communities, and groups from their communities travel to this area in the other years. Engert said she is humbled by the reactions of the Salvadorans she has worked with and for.

“They are very aware that there are great needs in the world, and we chose them. It’s almost like we’re extended family — hugs are given, blessings offered and we’ve even been invited to weddings!”

For more information, visit info@cis-elsalvador.org or contact one of the parishes listed below.

Jo Engert, staff liaison for Our Lady of the Presentation Parish with CIS, said that under El Salvador’s 43rd president, Nayib Bukele, human rights have been suspended, poverty is rampant and violence is esca-

• Our Lady of the Presentation Parish and the San Rafael Cedros Community

• St. Elizabeth Parish and the Romero and San Jose Palo communities

• St. Elizabeth Parish and Holy Spirit Parish with the Paso Puente Community

• Holy Spirit Parish and the Distrito Libertad Community

• St. Patrick Parish [Clay County] and the Estanzuelas Community

• St. Sabina Parish and the Cinquera Community

• St. Peter Parish and the San Francisco de Asis Community

• St. John Francis Regis Parish and the Ita Maura Community

A partner since 2012, Kerm Fendler, of St. Elizabeth Parish, agreed. “We see communities gaining self-respect and hope for the future. We get more out of our partnership than we give. They feel like our equals, which gives them security. We can help, through education, friendship and raising funds for necessities like commuting to school and helping the moms and wives of innocent people arrested and jailed get care packages to their jailed family members. Remember the old saying — ‘Buy a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime’? That’s what we’re doing, planting the seeds and letting them go forward with it.”

Visit Conception Abbey Celebrate 150 years with the monks

We invite you to visit our home this year for retreats, day visits, and tours, and to seek Christ alongside our monastic community. Gather your friends, family, or parish groups to visit Conception Abbey in our anniversary year.

Retreats and workshops themed on Benedictine values

Tours of our recently enhanced Basilica sanctuary and restored historical display cases

Plenary indlugence granted by the Holy Father

Prayer and fellowship with the monastic community

Commemorative items for sale in the gift shop

501 of glorifying God years

Find upcoming events, commemorative items, and ways to celebrate with us at conceptionabbey.org/150years

Is the death penalty necessary?

Today the Catholic Church preaches that the death penalty is inadmissible, but in the past, the Church has recognized the right of states, including the Papal States, to inflict the death penalty. In 1870, Blessed Pope Pius IX himself responded to a prisoner’s request for clemency, saying that he could not grant it because carrying out his execution was a necessity. To understand how the Church’s teaching on the death penalty has seemingly shi ed, one must consider how advances in technology and the Catholic principle of double e ect change how “necessary” capital punishment is. Read this issue of Messenger for more on the Church’s historical view on the death penalty and Missouri’s high execution rate. Visit

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