I am now home after being in El Salvador for 3 weeks and working with Fr. Fuentes. It is always great to come back and thankful for all of the greater understanding that I always get when I go there. With each trip I gain more knowledge that helps me determine what I can do to help this Padre in his mission.
I also miss the great food that we are always served by our hosts and the great fresh Papaya. I did not even know I liked it. It was so sweet and juicy. The Padre says that it does not taste like that in the states. I am sure he is right.
I thought I would just summarize what I know about this priest and his mission in hopes that it will provide you the understanding of him and inspire you to contribute in any way to the people of El Salvador.
Fr. Rafael Fuentes is a native Salvadorian. He was raised in a very humble and poor home by his aunt. She is still alive and is about 85 years old. He does have at least one brother and one sister. Both of them are in the states. I believe his sister is in Cleveland and his brother is in Denver. He studied to become a priest in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Chile. He is about 55 years old. He has been a priest for about 30 years. He knew personally Archbishop Romero. I even have a picture of him with the Archbishop. He was not in El Salvador during the 1980's however during the height of the war going on. I believe he was continuing his studies in Chile at the time.
He was a priest in many small parishes during the beginning of his priesthood. It was always out in the small poor towns of the country. As I have said in my blogs he seems to have a real sincere feeling about the poor and there position in life. He really does see Christ in these people.
Sometime during the 80's he spent 2 years in Cleveland with his sister. He was also working with the poor in that city all of the time and helping Salvadorians that would come to the states. It was during this time that he learned to speak English. His English is still very good and one of the reasons for his success. During this time I believe he met John and Rita Linehan from the Assumption Parish in Geneva, Ohio. They became great friends, starting in about 1995 until about 2010 they supported him and his mission in so many ways, even driving a truck down to El Salvador for him to use. The Assumption Church has had a sister parish relationship with him for many years until recently. Since my mother lives in Geneva I just happened to be there on a January Sunday in 2010 where they were asking if there were people that wanted to go on a one week pilgrimage to El Salvador. That is how I got started.
After a short time in the states he decided his place was with this people in El Salvador and that is when his mission really stated. In 2003 I believe he became the pastor of the church in Aqua Caliente. The name of the church is San Jose. It, as well as the rectory, were in very bad shape. I think as a result of the war. So during the next 7 years he worked with his people and with the contacts in the States was able to raise the money to restore the church and the expand the rectory. So now the little town of 8,000 have a wonderful beautiful church which has become the social center of the community again all the while they give praise to God. I remember seeing the Church for the first time in my trip in 2010. He was so anxious for us to see the church as it had just been completed. It was so beautiful with its all white paint, new wood roof and beautiful windows. I will never forget that.
In any case that is one of his very strong points, his ability to raise funds to make things happen. The church is one of of his great examples. The rectory because a wonderful place for the pilgrims to stay and eat and communicate. All of those meals prepared so nicely by some of the people that are always around him.
In 2008 he got the idea to begin a new Catholic Grade School. None existed in this town. There are really hardly any in the whole country except in the rich areas of San Salvador. In any case, he took on the challenge because he felt that the educational needs of the children were not being met by the public school system. This I completely agree with. And so the building program began. When I went down in January 2010 there were three grades started. They were building another section for grades 4 and 5 on the opposite side of the grounds. The place looked good and the teachers were enthusiastic. Since that time he has added grades up to the 8th grade. He has added another section on top of the 4th and 5th grade section for 6th and 7 and added a computer room and expanded the cafeteria so inexpensive meals can be available to the children. He also made the center of the school grounds a basketball,soccer court. It is all cement now.
So the school looks great. Nice and clean and it looks like a ray of hope for the children that attend the school there. There are currently about 150 children and 10 teachers which include a gym teacher and an english teacher. I almost forgot there is the relocated bakery at the back of the site where this little cooperative provides a way for about 5 ladies to earn an income and helps to feed the children as well. There is also a carpentry shop near the bakery. He wants to expand the woodworking skills of the kids. This however needs to be developed better. Just one of the challenges that are still left to do here.
The additional goals for the future are the expansion to the 9th grade and more subjects. I personally feel that there are many opportunities to expand the quality of the educational system there and to determine what is needed to keep this school on a sound financial footing.
This Padre would like to expand to a high school if possible and/or build a school in the larger town of Chalatenango. In 2011 he became the Director of Education for the Dioceses and so is no longer the pastor of San Jose. So he spends his weekends now being a priest to the poor and traveling to at least 3 different parishes on weekends to say Mass to the people in very inaccessible places.
As I have said he never stops. His energy never wanes. I do not know how he does it. On a personal level he also supports 5 children that live with him. All have come to him mostly because of a problem with the parents. There is Alejandra age 7 the daughter of a prostitute who gave her to the Padre when she was only days old. There is Rodrigo age 7 who was the son of a lady with no husband or way to support him. There is his sister Alejandra, yes another one, age 5 who just came to him as the mother's situation has not improved. There is Andra, a product of an abusive parent. She is 14 and he has had her for at least 5 years. She does have some learning disabilities. Finally there is Katherine age 13 who is the daughter of Alisia who lives at the home in San Salvador and who helps to raise the children and goes to cooking school herself to become a chef. Finally there is Santa Anita a lady of about 25 who lives there also to help with the children and goes to college as well to become a teacher.
He would probably take in more children if he could afford it. He knows that the orphanages in this country are poor. He also knows that it is very difficult for Americans to adopt children from this country for some reason.
Two websites that you might be interested in are : http://colegiocatolicoaquacaliente.net. This one in Spanish is a website for the school itself. The other is www.kentnewmancenterparish.org. This is the website for the Newman Center at Kent State University. Look under the Ministry link.
So there it is folks. My little story about this priest and his mission. I hope you have enjoyed it and just maybe inspired you to see if you want to get involved in helping these people and this Padre.
Thanks for your interest.
Jim Nugent
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