Migration meeting in El Salvador
I am currently in El Salvador attending the annual meeting of the Jesuit Migration Network of Central America and North America (RJM-CA&NA). After the release of the Pennsylvania sexual abuse report and the Kavanaugh hearings, it's nice to be back in a place where I can see much of what is good about the Catholic Church.
Over the weekend, Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero was recognized as a saint by the Church. In big and small ways, Romero worked to alleviate the suffering of the Salvadoran people until his murder in March 1980. His canonization is important in so many ways, including the Catholic Church beginning to come to grips with how it operated during the Cold War. The Latin American Church was on the front lines in the struggle for human rights and democracy, which didn't go over all to well with certain conservative Catholics and with many in the US and Europe who were unfamiliar with what was going on in the region in the 1970s and 1980s. I'll be heading to where Romero lived and died as well as his crypt at the Cathedral tomorrow.
At the Jesuit Migration Network meeting, people from across the network are sharing their insights into what has been transpiring in the region these last two months. There is a great deal of concern about forced displacement of Nicaraguans. While still small in absolute numbers, this new crisis is causing individual members of the network to respond in Costa Rica and at the US border. The greater concern is Venezuela where several million people have been displaced, mainly to Colombia but also to Peru, Chile, Panama, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and the United States. There are also some interesting discussions surrounding migration out of Central America's Northern Triangle, especially as this year's caravan heads north through Honduras.
From what I can tell from today's agenda, we are going to learn more about how the Salvadoran government and civil society is working with returnees.
Over the weekend, Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero was recognized as a saint by the Church. In big and small ways, Romero worked to alleviate the suffering of the Salvadoran people until his murder in March 1980. His canonization is important in so many ways, including the Catholic Church beginning to come to grips with how it operated during the Cold War. The Latin American Church was on the front lines in the struggle for human rights and democracy, which didn't go over all to well with certain conservative Catholics and with many in the US and Europe who were unfamiliar with what was going on in the region in the 1970s and 1980s. I'll be heading to where Romero lived and died as well as his crypt at the Cathedral tomorrow.
At the Jesuit Migration Network meeting, people from across the network are sharing their insights into what has been transpiring in the region these last two months. There is a great deal of concern about forced displacement of Nicaraguans. While still small in absolute numbers, this new crisis is causing individual members of the network to respond in Costa Rica and at the US border. The greater concern is Venezuela where several million people have been displaced, mainly to Colombia but also to Peru, Chile, Panama, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and the United States. There are also some interesting discussions surrounding migration out of Central America's Northern Triangle, especially as this year's caravan heads north through Honduras.
From what I can tell from today's agenda, we are going to learn more about how the Salvadoran government and civil society is working with returnees.
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