Wheatfields Spring 1995

              -nfcrt/f'CHU>/lciHi=s
Wheatfields
Volume 8, Issue 3
Sisters of St. Francis, Tiffin, OH
Spring, 1995
Companioning Hermanas de Santa Clara
By Sister Roberta Marie Doneth
and Sister Jacquelyn Doepker
Early morning on January 11, 1995, we
excitedly boarded a plane at the Columbus airport
and, with much anticipation, left for El Salvador.
The purpose of the trip was to establish a
relationship with a group of Franciscan sisters as
stated in our goal at the June 1993 assembly: "We
will companion a Franciscan religious community
in Latin America."
The group chosen by our community is the
Central American Province of Las Hermanas de
Santa Clara (the Sisters of Saint Clare). This group
of sisters, whose motherhouse is in Ireland, has
three houses in El Salvador and one in Guatemala.
At the present time there are seven final professed
sisters (four Irish and three Salvadoran) and 17
young Salvadorans in religious formation.
Sister Marcos gives food to a hungry man outside the
convent door in El Salvador.
The Hermanas de Santa Clara are a group
of active Clares (Second Order Franciscans) who
began working in El Salvador in 1971. They
accompanied the Salvadoran people throughout
the very painful twelve years of civil war and have
continued to assist them in their struggle to pull
their lives back together during peace time.
Our hearts were touched by the Salvadoran
people wherever we went, but especially in San
Francisco Gotera, one of the sections hardest hit
during the war and an area where the sisters do
most of their social outreach and pastoral care.
Most of those we met had lost family members in
the war. Many had lost their homes. Few had
opportunity for regular employment. Yet, repeatedly, we met young and old who were responding
to the sisters' call to take leadership roles in their
faith communities and their small villages.
The Gotera parish consists of ten towns
and 100 villages with 100,000 people. The
pastoral staff consists of Sister Marcos, Sister
Felipa, and the pastor, Padre Miguel.
The youth groups were impressive, 75 in
all, for which the parish is providing monthly
training and occasional retreats. The young
leaders in return are the catechists for the children
in their villages. They are dedicated to bringing
the word of God and knowledge of the faith to the
many children with whom they work.
Music is very precious to the Latin American people and it plays a major role in expressing
their faith. Sister Felipa has trained six youthful
musicians in liturgy planning and improving their
church music. These leaders have taken up the
challenge of providing workshops for other
musicians in the villages. They teach them how to
plan a seasonal theme and select and provide
music for their services.       (Continued on page 11)