El Salvador 2008: Day 7 – Diocesan Convention

After our work day at Santa Maria Virgen and tour of Suchitoto we rushed back to our base camp at San Juan Evangelista. Tonight was the start of the annual convention of the Diocese of El Salvador, and the opening service started at 6pm.

In addition to the local priests and lay leaders, guests from Episcopal Dioceses from San Diego, Los Angeles, and New York were in attendance. Our group (of course) represented the Diocese of Massachusetts.

After the service we had a late dinner and a talk from Jose, the Diocesan staff lawyer who also runs the Diocesan program on Human Rights and Social Justice. Jose was raised on a rural farm in El Salvador and knows first hand how difficult it is for the poor to subsist there. He became a driver for the bishop of El Salvador, and used his salary to put himself through law school.