Sister Parish - San Martín de Porres, El Salvador

• St Martin de Porres is in the city of Santiago de Maria: population 18,000 and approximately 2 hours from San Salvador.
• 14 smaller communities or cantons, outside of Santiago de Maria are also included in the parish of St Martin de Porres.
• Currently there are 2 priests who minister to these communities, as well as many lay ministers.
• Generally the further from the center of the city, the greater poverty and fewer resources.
• Each canton has at least one trained delegate to do ministry within the canton.
• Unemployment is high. Coffee is major agricultural product but with declining prices.
• Most of the cantons have electricity but some don’t have water accessible.
• Limited medical care in the cantons. Some of the schools have no bathrooms.
• Most people are paid less than $10 a day, and husbands and fathers have to leave their town just to make enough money for their families to eat.
• Violence is very real to them, and they’ve shared their fears with us during our committee’s visits. 3 priests have been murdered in their area the past 3 years.

The sister parish partnership was established in 2017 and forged in recognition of our connectedness as a Catholic family. Mutually blessed by this partnership, both parishes are more united than ever before to growing our spiritual relationship and connecting our parishioners and communities. Join us as we journey together to draw closer to God.

1. Pray for our sister parish relationship and for each of the parishes. Our Sister Parish prayer is on the next tab.

2. Join the Twinning parish committee to help with the planning or in future visits to El Salvador. Contact the parish office for more information.

3. Contribute financially by sending a check to the parish office for ongoing projects.

Let us pray for our sister parishes,
St. Martin de Porres and St Francis of Assisi 
and for the priests and people
of Santiago de Maria, El Salvador 
and of Marshalltown, Iowa.

We bring all that we are, 
both our gifts and our struggles.

We bring our hopes and our desires 
to build a spiritual relationship between 
the people of our parishes.

We bring humility and faith to our mission.  
Let us look toward God, 
who gathers all nations into one.

Amen.


Oremos por nuestras parroquias hermanas,
San Martín de Porres y San Francisco de Asís,
por los sacerdotes y los pueblos de
Santiago de María, El Salvador, 
y de Marshalltown, Iowa.

Traemos todo lo que somos,
tanto nuestros dones como nuestras luchas.

Traemos nuestras esperanzas y nuestros deseos 
de construir una relación entre
los feligreses de nuestras parroquias.

Traemos humildad y fe a nuestra misión.
Fijemos nuestra mirada en Dios,
quien recoge a todas las naciones en una sola.

Amén.

Thank you to all St. Francis parishioners for your generosity and kindness. Your past support has provided:

• COVID-19 relief (food packages and PPE)
• water filter buckets for all households in a village
• a bathroom for one of their schools,
• an incubator so they could raise and sell chickens, 
• religious education training and materials,
• support for teaching families how to grow vegetables, 
• book bags and school supplies,
• a youth music program and instruments to help kids avoid gangs, 
• a program to provide meals to seniors, 
• medical and dental supplies,
• training and supplies for their parish store,
• and more.