On the eve of his departure for the inaugural synod of the Church of the Province of Central America [TLC, May 10], the Rt. Rev. Martin Barahona, Bishop of El Salvador, talked about the Anglican Church in his diocese.

Bishop Barahona noted that there are now 10 priests serving 20 congregations in El Salvador. He said there are about 2,000 baptized persons in his diocese and another 2,000 Salvadorans who are Episcopalians in the United States, mostly in the Los Angeles area.

The bishop and others from his diocese were off to Costa Rica the next day where they would elect the Rt. Rev. Cornelius Wilson as the Presiding Bishop of the new province, which separated from the Episcopal Church at the General Convention of 1997. At that synod, Bishop Barahona was elected vice president of the provincial council. El Salvador was joined by the dioceses of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama in the formation of the new province.

There has been an Anglican presence in El Salvador since 1742, when the first missionary there was commissioned by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. It remained under Church of England jurisdiction and the pastoral oversight of the Bishop of British Honduras (now Belize) until after World War II. English clergy ministered to English-speaking people in Belize, the Bluefields section of Nicaragua and to American and British expatriates through embassy chaplains. They made no attempt to hold services in Spanish. The Rt. Rev. David Richards, an American who became Bishop of Central America in 1957, recalled there was only one priest in El Salvador that year.

Bishop Barahona told how his country is in the process of recovering from a 20-year civil war, which ended in 1992, a severe earthquake in 1986, and the United States immigration policy which is forcing the return of many of the 1.5 million Salvadorans now in the U.S. One project addressing the housing needs is a village of 70 families near the capital, San Salvador, funded by the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief.

Also assisting in outreach projects is the agency Food for the Poor, which has distributed more than $328 million in goods and services to the poor in 14 countries in the Caribbean region. In 1997, the organization expanded its operation into Latin America. In El Salvador, it is building a village of 123 homes for about 700 residents.

Bishop Barahona, who was elected bishop in 1992, is a former Roman Catholic priest who after being received as a deacon in 1978, ministered in Panama for 14 years.

He was excited about the inaugural synod the following day, and grateful for the pioneering work of the Episcopal Church in his country. He also mentioned the more than 30 years of financial support by the Episcopal Church and the continuing participation by the United Thank Offering and the Presiding Bishop's Fund.

With a twinkle in his eye, he indicated that the Central American delegations would be missed in the House of Bishops and by General Convention's House of Deputies. "It will change the balance of power on the sexuality issues," he said.

Bishop Barahona noted that Bishop Barbara Harris, Bishop Suffragan of Massachusetts, had wished the Central Americans well and added, "Next time we will be in a majority."

(The Rev.) Bob Libby