![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Romeros-Grave.jpg?resize=569%2C364\")
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\nAfter lunch we traveled to visit an orphanage Sister Gloria has been working with for several years. The \u201cwork\u201d of the church today was to play. I played with Lego\u2019s and play-doh. Others worked with painting and coloring. But the kids favorite game by far was the beach ball game. The game had a simple rule: 1) find one of twelve small beach balls, 2) bean the volunteer with it as hard as possible, then laugh frantically and run away. The volunteers would pick up the beach ball, laugh frantically (so the kids would know it didn\u2019t hurt). Then fake an angry look and toss the beech ball back as hard as they could. The volunteers got hit far more often than the kids. But the beach balls where so flimsy no one could *ever* get hurt. And everyone got to release a ton of pent up foolishness.<\/p>\nSister Gloria told us to expect the orphans to be very \u2018clingy\u2019, especially to the male volunteers. I had already been expecting this because this was exactly what I had experienced in Honduras. When many children are raised by relatively few all female nuns they began to crave affection, especially from men.\u00a0 If\u00a0 anyone needs proof that the male spirit carries a different energy than female spirit, visit a Central American orphanage. No one has to indoctrinate these children that the world needs fathers, a pure heart just looks for that. But along with being a little clingy many of these children had\u00a0 a sense of melancholy about them. A few didn\u2019t speak or smile as much as many children at the other El Salvadoran sites have. It was heartbreaking but we think we know why.<\/p>\n
In years past the orphanage housed over 90 orphans but today it houses only a few more than 30. The new government has decided that orphans would grow up better in a house hold with parents than an orphanage. So they were actively trying to return these children to family members Aunts, Uncles perhaps even Grandparents. But they are ignoring the fact that these children all had good reasons for coming to the orphanage to begin with. Their family could have already had several children without the means to feed them. Their families could have been abusive. The government was not been following up on the children who where leaving the orphanage, but the sisters have learned of at least one who has ended up falling into prostitution within a year after leaving. And others had been returned by families who simply couldn\u2019t feed them. Foreign adoption is difficult in El Salvador because during the civil war, many adoptions were done for profit (the children where sold) and unregulated. So many children ended up in pornography rings in the states. Sister Gloria hopes to get El Salvador to open up foreign adoption through reliable nonprofits like the Catholic Social Services but there is still work to be done. The children who have remained behind in the orphanage live in fear they will be moved next. For many of the kids you can feel this uncertainty in there solemn faces.<\/p>\n
When Catholics think about El Salvador\u2019s struggle to find homes for its children, we must remember that we are all one family. On the cross Jesus instructed us to take his mother as our mother and made all of us her sons and daughters. Any true devotion to Mary is a declaration that we are reborn into this holy family. And if we make this declaration in spirit and truth than there can be no orphans. They have all been chosen for adoption by our mother in heaven and her church on earth.\u00a0 My challenge to you this day is to pray to our holy Mother to make you a voice for orphans throughout the world. And we must continue to pray for El Salvador.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mission El Salvador Day 6 On our sixth morning in El Salvador we made a visit to the grave of former Archbishop of El Salvador Oscar Romero. Romero\u2019s presence is still very much alive in El Salvador today. His grave had been decorated with Balloons and streamers to celebrate his 95 birthday, which is in… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[4,926,91],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21202","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blog","7":"category-el-salvador","8":"category-young-adult","9":"entry","10":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21256,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/08\/mission-el-salvador-day-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":21202,"position":0},"title":"Mission El Salvador Day 7","author":"Trenton Henrichson","date":"August 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Mission El Salvador Day 7 Early in the morning of the seventh day of El Salvador I spent delivering supplies to a school in one of the Villages we have worked with here in El Salvador.\u00a0 Meghan delivered supplies to the school and day care in the other. Once again\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/rhouse.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20998,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/08\/mission-el-salvador-day-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":21202,"position":1},"title":"Mission El Salvador Day 1","author":"Trenton Henrichson","date":"August 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Mission El Salvador Day 1 Most of the first day was spent getting to El Salvador. My journey started at 5 am Austin time and didn\u2019t pass through customs until 1 pm El Salvadoran time. El Salvador has had a little less than half a day to open my eyes.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC03604.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21316,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/08\/mission-el-salvador-day-8\/","url_meta":{"origin":21202,"position":2},"title":"Mission El Salvador Day 8","author":"Trenton Henrichson","date":"August 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Mission El Salvador Day 8 For our last full day in El Salvador I returned once more to the construction site. There was a foundation still to be dug and I was determined to see it as complete as possible before I left. Others returned to the daycare to get\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21038,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/08\/mission-el-salvador-day-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":21202,"position":3},"title":"Mission El Salvador Day 2","author":"Trenton Henrichson","date":"August 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Mission El Salvador Day 2: The missioners in El Salvador truly run the gamut of ages, sexes, professions and experience with mission work. Every night Sister Gloria makes a list of the sites that need workers and what roles (construction or child play) each site needs. She then allows the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Leveling-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21139,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/08\/mission-el-salvador-day-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":21202,"position":4},"title":"Mission El Salvador Day 4","author":"Trenton Henrichson","date":"August 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Mission El Salvador Day 4 For my fourth day in El Salvador, I changed things up yet again and spent most of the day following the project FIAT (Faith In Action Together) nurse as she made her daily rounds. Nurses in El Salvador give a new meaning to the phrase\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22427,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/09\/blessed-is-the-peacemaker-everyday-saint-mary-berwick\/","url_meta":{"origin":21202,"position":5},"title":"Blessed Is The Peacemaker; Everyday-Saint Mary Berwick","author":"Trenton Henrichson","date":"September 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cWar should belong to the tragic past, to history\u201d -St. John Paul II\u2019s words have helped inform and inspire a generation. That is always good to have the words of saints like St. Paul close at hand. But the message of church requires more voices than just our clergy to\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Mary.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21202\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}