BURIEN – In 1996, after the civil war in El Salvador had ended, members of St. Francis of Assisi Parish found a way to help people trying to rebuild their lives.

The Burien parish formed a sister parish relationship with San Jose Ojos de Agua Parish in El Salvador’s Chalatenango district, a mountainous area north of San Salvador near the border with Honduras. Just one parish priest serves 14 villages in the parish.

In the early years, St. Francis parishioners helped rebuild schools and churches. Since then, they’ve helped more than 40 children with educational expenses.

After fostering the relationship with parishioners in El Salvador for 28 years, “they’ve become … close friends,” said Tom Fletcher, a St. Francis of Assisi parishioner who has visited El Salvador periodically since 1998.

– St. Francis of Assisi parishioner Tom Fletcher visits with a parishioner in La Ceiba, El Salvador, while celebrating the Feast of Corpus Christi in 2019. (Photo courtesy Maria Balsiger)

Since the beginning of the relationship, members of the two parishes have visited each other, alternating years (except during the pandemic).

“It binds the people here with them. There’s a connection,” said Father Dick Hayatsu, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi.

In September 2023, the pastor of San Jose Ojos de Agua, two teachers and a teacher’s disabled son came to St. Francis of Assisi. They stayed with parishioners, attended Masses and visited students in the parish school, said Maria Balsiger, a St. Francis of Assisi parishioner.

“It’s just a great, eye-opening experience,” Balsiger said.

In June, five parishioners from St. Francis of Assisi will make the trip to El Salvador for a visit. They will stay in homes, eat meals with families and visit the children who the parish has sponsored, Father Hayatsu said.

St. Francis of Assisi parishioner Sheila Casey and parishioners in El Salvador share prayer cards and handmade rosaries before saying the rosary in 2022. (Photo courtesy Maria Balsiger)

Parishioners in Burien stay connected with their sister parish in a variety of ways. Prayer intentions and the needs of San Jose Ojos de Agua are announced monthly in the parish bulletin, and four times a year St. Francis of Assisi has a collection to benefit the sister parish, Father Hayatsu said.

In addition, several parishioners who speak Spanish regularly communicate with sister parish families via email, said Balsiger, who emails the priest in El Salvador, exchanging prayer requests and Christmas greetings with him. Each year, families from both parishes share family photos and letters, she said.

“The letters are sharing of prayers, joys, sadnesses on each side of the relationship,” said Balsiger, who is helping coordinate the eight-day visit to El Salvador in June.

In the weeks leading up to this year’s trip, parishioners have been collecting lightweight women’s scarves, baseball caps, books written in Spanish and prayer cards. Fletcher said he is also bringing decks of playing cards.

In 2008, St. Francis of Assisi started sponsoring children through a family-to-family program that helps cover the cost of educational expenses (including uniforms and supplies) as well as nutritional supplements and medical, dental and vision exams for children and their families. 

Children from San Jose Ojos de Agua Parish in El Salvador, seen in this 2017 photo, have benefited from a family-to-family program with St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Burien. The program provides support for educational expenses. Three of the students pictured graduated from college — one is a teacher, another is a bookkeeper and the third is a police officer. (Photo courtesy Maria Balsiger).

More than 40 children have benefited from the sponsorships, Balsiger said. Seven have gone to college, three have entered technical school and three more have returned to their village to work in medical clinics. A photo taken during a 2017 visit includes three students who now work as a teacher, a bookkeeper and a police officer.

“These kids have come back to help boost their communities and boost their families,” Balsiger said. 

Over the years of the sister parish relationship, Fletcher said, he has seen the children in El Salvador grow up: one emigrated to the United States, another became a judge, and another a doctor.

“You see successes like that, it does improve our faith,” he said.

Being involved with the people of San Jose Ojos de Agua Parish has helped him became more empathetic, Fletcher added.

“You really understand what they’re going through,” he said. “I think it’s enriched my life to meet a variety of people.”