Offering Both Worship and Work:
A Visit to the Parish of Our Lady of Lourdes

by Reverend Gregory Houck, O.Carm.

Last year, the Carmelites attending the blessing of the Retreat House for the Parish of Our Lady of Lourdes, came back saying the parish was “really something to see.” This Parish is about a forty-five minute drive up the “Calle de Norte” (Northern Highway) from San Salvador (the capital city) in the country of El Salvador.

Reverend David Blanchard, O.Carm., a member of the PCM (Chicago) Province, is the pastor and, in many ways, functions also as the Parish’s CEO.

	The retreat house chapel

Back in 1985, Father David, having just been ordained, visited El Salvador as part of the Province’s Justice and Peace Commission during the El Salvadoran civil war. When asked at the time what the Commission could do, the archbishop of San Salvador noted that war atrocities are less when foreign nationals are present so he asked the Commission members to simply visit and be present at times. The archbishop took the question to heart and called the PCM Provincial, Reverend Murray Phelan, O.Carm., and asked if the Province could send any Carmelites to El Salvador. Father Murray called Father David and asked if he wanted to go. He has worked in El Salvador since.

The parish he was asked to pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes, is in an area that was hit hard during the civil war. Father David quickly concluded that the area greatly needed economic development so not only does the parish offer the “usual” aspects of parish life—Masses, catechetical and sacramental programs, choirs, youth ministry, and a heavy emphasis on adult faith formation—but the parish has become the economic mainstay of the area.

The Sisters of Mercy attend the Foundation’s board meeting

For example, on the day I arrived for a visit, a class was being offered by parishioners for members of neighboring parishes on using soy beans as a dietary supplement, a group from the Sisters of Mercy of Baltimore was visiting to attend a board meeting for a parish foundation that coordinates area economic development, some parish heath-care workers were giving a workshop on health and preventive medicine, and a group of volunteer workers arrived from Cincinnati. All this activity is a just a typical day in the parish.

A Maryknoll lay missionary, Anna Greise, who has worked in the parish in health care for the last eight years says of Father David, “not only is he a great pastor, but he is a one-man ‘think-tank’ coming up with great programs that really help the people. What’s more, he then finds the right people in the parish to then run these programs.”

	Father David talks with a workshop carpenter

The parish really is a diversified company. There is a restaurant, open daily, that does it biggest business on weekends, selling 3000 tamales on an average Sunday. There is a computer repair workshop, reconditioning old computers from the US mostly for school use throughout El Salvador. There is a literacy program working towards 100% child literacy. The parish operates health clinics both in the parish center and in the surrounding mountain villages. There is a carpentry shop which specializes in church furniture such as altars, pulpits, credence tables, etc. There is an agricultural department of the parish called “Chinampa” that teaches hydroponic farming to the area farmers to help them increase their output and runs its own teaching gardens, that teaches more efficient ways to raise chickens and turkeys with its own 2000-chicken farm, and teaches area farmers beekeeping with 25 hives of its own. Chinampa is soon to start fish farming, not only to domestically raise fish for market but to teach fish farming to area farmers to supplement their income. Because clean water was a need, the parish opened a water purification department called “Hidrochinampa” which now provides clean water for 300 households. There is a pottery workshop which recently won a contract to provide ceramics for Sanborn’s—a chain of coffeehouses throughout Latin America.

Statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel at the entrance

Recently the parish won a prestigious award from the International Association of Architects. The project started simply to provide readily available and affordable housing in the area. Nataniel Lastra, currently a Carmelite seminarian in Mexico City, formerly worked as an architect. He drew up designs for housing using alternate construction materials. For example, bamboo grows in the area but is not used for construction; yet it grows quickly and so is a readily renewable, environmentally-friendly, and inexpensive resource. Nataniel worked with the parish’s construction department in building a bamboobased hall for the parish. At first they were doubtful, but they became convinced when the design resulted in a beautiful and well-built building. It is this building and design that won the architectural award, with the prize awarded in Dublin (Ireland) last Spring.

Most notable of all these projects is the Foundation. This foundation distributes $13- million in consumable goods annually to the poor and those in need throughout El Salvador and beyond, with warehouse after warehouse used for storage and distribution.

Carmelites Gregory Houck, Jesus Garcia, and Emilio Rodriguez at Mass in a mission chapel of the parish

The gem of the parish is the Retreat House. Located on a hill across the highway, the dome of the chapel of the retreat house can be seen for miles in all directions. Around this chapel on the slopes of the hill are the retreat rooms and meeting rooms, done in a Mediterranean-style, fronted with flowers and hanging plants. The whole complex is well-built, beautiful, peaceful, and comfortable.

Having spent only a few days at the parish, I left echoing those who had visited during the Spring, myself saying, “this is really something to see.