by Murrel Bland
The Rt. Rev. David Alvarado, the Anglican bishop of the Diocese of El Salvador, will visit St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 1300 N. 18th St., Kansas City, Kan., this weekend. He will tell of the Episcopal dignity and justice program that targets poverty, violence, immigration and human trafficking.
Bishop Alvarado will lead a discussion entitled “Immigration: Seeing the Connections” at 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 2, in the parish hall. All interested persons will be invited. The bishop will also preach at the 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Sunday services Sept. 4.
St. Francis Community Services of Salina has been collaborating with the Episcopal Diocese of El Salvador since 2015.
“Issues like poverty, violence, immigration and human trafficking are shared issues we can address more effectively if we work together,” Angela Smith said. She is the director of mission engagement at the St. Francis agency. “Our hope is that this visit will be an opportunity to talk about issues like these, how they connect us and to educate communities about how we can support peace and reconciliation efforts.”
Smith said that more and more children from Central America, including El Salvador, are coming to the United States to escape violence.
The St. Francis social service agency, which has more than 1,000 employees, has served children and families since 1945. The Rev. Robert Mize Jr. founded St. Francis as a boys’ home in Ellsworth, Kan. Mize spent part of his boyhood in Kansas City, Kan., when his father, The Rev. Robert Mize Sr., was rector at St. Paul’s during the early 1900s.
Earlier this year, St. Francis merged with Associated Youth Services, which had its roots in the Mennonite Church in the Argentine community of Kansas City, Kan.
Murrel Bland, the executive director of Business West, is the former editor and publisher of Wyandotte West.
