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Dorothy Kazel Ita
Ford Jean
Donovan Maura Clarke
d. December 2, 1980
"We Remember Those Who Have Gone
Before Us,
Marked With The Sign of Faith."
† † † †
"Our sisters were killed because they lived
as the Gospel of Jesus directed them to live.
That Gospel illuminates and touches all
aspects of human life and is never separated from it. It proclaims total
freedom for all persons
and societies from the slavery of
selfishness, hatred and fear. This Gospel judges the proud and powerful
who put their trust in the
idols of money, power and status. It lifts
up the needy and the poor who put their trust in God and in God's love.
To those who are blind to the message of
that Gospel, our sisters and countless others who daily witness to it by
their lives are dangerous!
They threaten political structures which
promote false idols and destroy the image of God in the human person.
Ita, Maura, Dorothy and Jean were committed
to the Gospel and thus gave their lives in love with and for the poor.
That and that alone is why they died."
Sister Melinda Roper, President of
the Maryknoll Sisters,
Father James Noonan, Superior
General of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers,
December, 1980:
images:rtfca.com
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Remembering the Four Church Women
December 2, 20
It was
23 years ago today that four churchwomen
were found in a shallow grave in a
farmer’s field, some raped, all dead--
each with a single bullet to their head.
The
description of such violence was not at
all uncommon in 1980 in El Salvador- a
countryside desecrated by civil war, a
people not at all defeated by the
horrors they lived daily. A resurrection
people, fed by the blood of the martyrs
and the bread of daily struggle for a
better life created the peace filled
scene I witnessed today--a lovely
pasture populated with a smart brick
chapel, a beautiful white stone monument
complete with a memorial plaque and a
tree that is planted in the center of an
area outlined with small white rocks. A
lovely space- now filled with local
folks and their living memory of war and
peace accords; Latin American religious
sisters revisiting the core of their
passion, commitment and witness; and
people from the North – standing in
solidarity.
Aiding
and abetting the enemy, the ‘subversive
acts’ of the nuns and one lay missioner
were caring for victims of war and war-
orphaned children. Addressing the
social, political and economic disparity
between the rich and the poor, teaching
methods of self-empowerment, and
community development were direct
threats to the power structure of the
ruling class. In those times threats
were eliminated.
What was
not eliminated 23 years ago is the
continued struggle for parity among
social classes by those who are
economically poor. Even as we gathered
at this grave site, determined justice
seeking Salvadoran citizens from the
Bajo Lempa were walking five days to the
President’s Mansion where they planned
to demand the completion of a
levee—apparently the levee was only
constructed along side the land of the
rich; to demand the titles to their land
acquired for use for the levee, and to
voice their opposition to the CAFTA –
the Central American Free Trade
Agreement.
Although
I did not witness the violence of 23
years ago, I am witnessing a violence as
deadly, now with global partners,
committing economic warfare. While in El
Salvador, SHARE introduced me to many
community groups -women and men -
struggling to gain access to water,
electricity, education, real jobs (not
sweat shop slavery) or fair trade prices
for their coffee. I am once more deeply
resolved to work to eliminate the death
threat of free trade, and towards
replacing the present global economic
priorities with fair trade, food
self-sufficiency, and community
development so all may live- and live
well.
December
2, 2003, I couldn’t help but be honored
and grateful to be standing in
solidarity with the people of El
Salvador to commemorate the memory and
lives of these women and the hundreds of
thousands of Salvadorans martyred in the
struggle for equality. I couldn’t help
but be encouraged, deeply acknowledging
the effect their living spirits have had
on my own Catholic Christian
convictions. I am indebted to them for
introducing me, by their flesh and
blood, to both liberation theology and
catholic social teaching incarnate! I
couldn’t help but pray that someday I,
too, would be so ‘subversive’ – that is
so compassionate, so just, so Christian.
©
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