El Salvador

Once the pandemic is over, consider joining us on an immersion trip to El Salvador. Learn more.

For over 25 years, Maryknoll Lay Missioners in El Salvador have accompanied Salvadorans in their ongoing struggle for peace, justice, human rights and a dignified life. The country bears the scars of a 12-year civil war in which some 75,000 non-combatants were killed, and although the war has ended, violence continues to plague the country. Yet El Salvador is a land rich in examples of incredible faith, courage, love, commitment, perseverance, and even martyrdom. Maryknoll Lay Missioners in El Salvador journey with people experiencing poverty in El Salvador and accompany them in an effort to promote peace and justice and to build better lives.

Ministry Areas

Education & Leadership Development

Maryknoll lay missioners in El Salvador provide educational scholarships, mentoring and youth programs. We provide literacy training, a library and resource center and a mobile “wheelbarrow library” in a poor squatters’ community. We also tutor internally displaced refugees in a church-run shelter and teach kindergarteners in neighborhoods experiencing high levels of violence.

Healthcare & Health Promotion

Maryknoll Lay Missioners has a long-running program that provides food to families in need. Workshops are offered to promote nutrition and to teach Salvadorans how to use soy in their cooking as an affordable way of boosting the amount of protein in their diet.

Healthcare

Maryknoll Lay Missioners has a long-running program that provides food to families in need. Workshops are offered to promote nutrition and to teach Salvadorans how to use soy in their cooking as an affordable way of boosting the amount of protein in their diet. Learn More

Faith Formation & Pastoral Care

One of our goals is to support local parishes in their initiatives to care for parishioners’ spiritual and physical needs through a variety of social, agricultural, and environmental ministries. Lay missioners participate in local base communities through which members deepen their faith and relate it to their lives. We also work with homeless people who live on the streets of San Salvador, and we have a presence in local shelters serving internally displaced Salvadorans who are fleeing violence.

Justice & Peace

Some of the area’s greatest challenges include the prevalence of poverty and violence, and the large numbers of displaced people. We work to create economic opportunity through a cooperative for women, we promote respect and understanding through a soccer program for children and youth, and we accompany displaced and homeless people in several projects.

Justice and Peace

Some of the area’s greatest challenges include the prevalence of poverty and violence, and the large numbers of displaced people. We work to create economic opportunity through a cooperative for women, we promote respect and understanding through a soccer program for children and youth, and we accompany the displaced and homeless in several projects. Learn More

Sustainable Development

Through parish ministries, our missioners working with small farms to promote sustainable agricultures while also increasing environmental awareness and action in the community.