News - November 2024

In late September, my wife and I traveled to North Carolina for my sister-in-law’s wedding. What began as a joyful occasion quickly turned into a harrowing experience as Hurricane Helene swept through. We spent hours in airports, delayed by stormy weather, finally arriving in Greensboro after a full day of travel. From my in-laws’ house, we watched the storm worsen, with news of storm damage, fallen trees, rockslides, and washed-out roads and highways. Then, something previously unimaginable happened—the storm turned directly toward Asheville, where my sister-in-law and her partner were staying in a cabin they had built for respite and retreat.

Las Vecinas is a “sister parish” organization that was initiated in 2001 through the goodwill and foresight of the parishioners of St. Ignatius Parish and of San Antonio Parish in Soyapango, El Salvador. Since its inception, Las Vecinas has arranged visits between the two parishes. Delegations from San Antonio Parish have regularly visited St. Ignatius, and delegations of our parishioners and priests have visited San Antonio Parish. I first visited Soyapango in 2016 with Fr. Greg, Fr. John Coleman, and parishioner Maria Boden. At that time, Soyapango was described in international news rep

Sometime in late 2005, at a parish ministry fair, Maria Boden charmed me into joining the Las Vecinas ministry. My husband, Miles Handley, and I were interested in taking our teenage son on a delegation to El Salvador in June 2006, but the timing didn’t work out for us. Miles and I began helping with ministry activities, and we were finally able to join a delegation in 2010. The bonds of friendship forged with the members of the Las Vecinas ministry at Parroquia San Antonio during that trip have remained strong, reinforced by their almost-annual visits to St. Ignatius. Other parishioners and priests have visited our sister parish before us and after us, always returning with stories of their faith, hard work, and warm hearts.

On behalf of the St. Ignatius Parish Anti-Racism Committee (ARC), we want to extend our heartfelt thanks to each of you who participated in our November 8 Multilingual Immigrant Storytellers' Circle. This event not only highlighted the voices of members of our sanctuary families—Cesar, Danihella, Cristian, Marjorie, and Manuel—but was also the signature event, and Part III of, the ARC’s 2024 Spiritual Exercises on Race and Migration, "Bringing All to God's Table."

November 16 marked the 35th anniversary of the deaths of six Jesuits who stood up for the poor in El Salvador. They died lying face down in the grass, assassinated because they lived what Father Ignacio Ellacuria once exhorted in his writing: “Do everything so that liberty is victorious over oppression, justice over injustice and love over hate.” They lived to lift up those who were vulnerable and those who had been victimized. That was their only "crime."

This is the time of year when we celebrate our special friendship with the people of El Salvador, and especially with the community served by our sister parish, Parroquia San Antonio. This week, we will commemorate the love and sacrifice of the Jesuit Martyrs of El Salvador at our liturgies on November 16th and 17th. This year marks the 35th anniversary of their murders on November 16, 1989. We will also have a visitor from Parroquia San Antonio, Paty Lazo, this weekend, who will come to the Masses and to Hospitality on Sunday morning.