San Salvador - The Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador ordained this Tuesday the Rev'd Amy Denny Zuninga as a priest.
The Rev'd Zuniga is a 28 year-old, with a BA in social work, and a MDiv from Yale Divinity School, New Haven, CT. She arrived in El Salvador four months ago and is in charge of the parish of San Andres Apostol in the neighborhood of Amatepec to the east of the capital.
The parish of San Andres Apostol is located in Soyopango, one of the most populated cities of El Salvador.
Along with her husband, Vincent, Zuninga will stay for a year in this ministry.
This is the third time that the Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador has ordained a woman. The three have been natives of the United States but are very committed to poor Salvadoran communities.
The Episcopal Church has been ordaining women since (1976). Thirty years after this historic and debated decision, even within the Anglican Communion, more and more people are meeting women aspirants to ordination. Ffity percent of students at US theological seminaries are women. In the entire world there are 15 women bishops, one of whom is in Brazil.
En El Salvador, a country that is largely Roman Catholic, this fact does not cease to surprise people. The Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador has nation - wide 2000 members in 13 congregations.
'I am very happy to ordain a woman, but I still have the dream of ordaining a Salvadoran woman,' said Bishop Mart?n Barahona, highest leader of the Episcopal Church in this country and primate of the Anglican Church of the Region of Central America.
Bishop Barahona will ordain Zuninga in the name of the Rt Rev'd Jerry A. Lamb, Bishop of the Diocese of Northern California.
The ordination rite will be celebrated before the many faithful of the Episcopal Church, representatives from sister churches, one of whom will be Bishop Medardo Gomez of the Lutheran Church of El Salvador, special invited guests - from El Salvador and abroad - including the Rev'd Sarah Motley, representative of the Diocese of Northern California, the diocese to which the Rev'd Zuninga belongs.
The Anglican Communion is comprised of 70 million members in the world.
From an article by Susana Barrera, Communications Officer of the Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador, translated by the Rev'd Canon Lee Alison Crawford, Communications Officer of Fundacion Cristosal, and Canon Missioner of the Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador