May the Prince of Peace bring peace to your hearts as you work toward peace in the world through helping the needy. Here's our annual update.

FEBRUARY PILGRIMAGE - Again a pilgrimage to El Salvador is being planned for February 2 - 9. The purpose is to see the face of God in the poor and to build relationships between peoples. The cost is between $700 and $800. The food is basic, the beds are fair, the roads are bumpy, the experience is priceless. Please contact John and Rita Linehan by December 20 if you might be interested. (440-466-3207) or welinehan@yahoo.com) Fr. John Dailey from the Youngstown Diocese serving in El Salvador, and Fr. Rafael Fuentes from the Chalatenango Diocese in El Salvador are waiting to welcome us. Over 60 of us have traveled to Chalatenango since 1997.

STUDENT SPONSORSHIPS - The school year has come to an end in El Salvador and there were 89 sponsor-student relationships. Most sponsorships are $25/month or $250/year. The money pays for various necessities without which the students could not attend school. For some it pays transportation, for some it affords food and housing, for some it goes for tuition, for some it buys shoes and books. The next school year begins in late January. If you have been sponsoring a student and would like to continue, THANK YOU. Please let us know your plans for next year. If you would like more information about being a sponsor, please call!! You will receive letters, a photo and much gratitude from your student. You could even meet your student if you came on a pilgrimage (see above). We lost a special sponsor in the past year. Henrietta Ivancic had sponsored Norma Elizabeth for two years. Now she is supporting her in a more powerful way - through prayers from a saint!

SISTER PARISHES - We’d like to welcome St. Charles Church in Boardman, Ohio as the "baby" sister in our family of sister parishes in Northeast Ohio. St. Charles is the ninth parish to become a sister church to a parish in the Diocese of Chalatenango, El Salvador. The "big" sisters are: Alliance St. Joseph, Ashtabula Mother of Sorrows, Ashtabula Mt. Carmel, Elyria St. Vincent de Paul, Garrettsville St. Ambrose, Geneva Assumption, Kent St. Patrick, and Kent State University Newman Center. There are other parishes currently discerning whether they are called by God to be a sister parish. There is a bittersweet note to the St. Charles decision. Alicia Turchyn, who traveled on the 2002 pilgrimage with a delegation from St. Charles, passed away in November within days of the church's decision. St. Charles will have a special saint watching over their sister parish relationship.

WEB PAGE - When Chris Jacobs took a pilgrimage to El Salvador, he saw a need for a web page to keep people informed about the good things being done by so many people. He used his talent to put one together. It is: chalate.freeshell.org (don't use "www").

KREYCHE'S RETURN - Mike and Jean Kreyche will be returning to Kent from their year of "sabbatical" in El Salvador on December 18. They have been doing so much, not only for the universities that Mike was awarded a grant to work with, but in the communities of Chalatenango being a resource and link for so many needs. If you would like to hear of some of their experiences and/or receive the five letters they sent out while there, they invite you to contact them at: kreyche@neo.rr.com.

COFFEE - Coffee growers in the village of Sumpul Chacones in Chalatenango can not cover their own costs by selling their coffee on the open market. Kreyche’s have worked with the Chacones Cooperative to sell the coffee to us at a fair price for the growers through eliminating the "middle men". Contact Jean and Mike (see above) or John and Rita (see below) for information.

CRAFTS - The El Salvador crafts continue to be sold in great number through Fr. John Dailey’s sister, Geri Dailey. If you know of anyone or group who would like to sell the bright wooden crafts ("La Palma Art"), contact Geri Dailey at 440-964-7331 or geri7331@yahoo.com.

MISSION APPEALS - We have been busy in 2003 coordinating mission appeals for the Diocese of Chalatenango. The process involves first contacting many dioceses with requests to do appeals in that diocese. After some of the dioceses approve appeals for certain of their parishes, the priest's visit needs to be coordinated with that parish. The result was that Fr. Rafael and Fr. Dailey did mission appeals in 24 parishes in eight dioceses during the past year!! These included the Archdioceses of Denver and Miami, and the Dioceses of Cleveland, Orange (CA), Pittsburgh, Pueblo, Seattle and Youngstown. We missed seeing much of Father Rafael here this summer. He spent most of the summer doing appeals in the western states. These appeals are a major source of funding for the Diocese of Chalatenango and need someone “stateside” to arrange them.

THE INTERNATIONAL FAIR - broke another record! In its fifth year it sold $16,200 in crafts made by the needy in over 30 developing countries. Thanks to everyone who helped in any way. Look for it again on the two weekends before Thanksgiving, 2004, at the Austinburg Town Hall. Promote world peace; buy gifts made by the needy!

SUMMER PICNIC - Every summer since Caravana (the 1997 road trip to El Salvador to deliver seven donated 4x4's - which started all this) there has been an "El Salvador Gathering" at the Linehans. It is a pot luck picnic for anyone and everyone who is interested in the El Salvador projects. Sometimes people "slip through the cracks" in the publicity efforts about the picnic. So if June comes around and you have not heard anything about the picnic, please call 466-3207. We want you to come!

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION - These projects are successful through God’s grace working through all of you. Please contact John and Rita Linehan about any of these projects or other ideas you might have: welinehan@yahoo.com or 440-466-3207 or 5834 Route 307, Geneva, OH 44041. If we don't have your e-mail, would you like to share it with us?