Reply #18: El Salvador honours martyrs who fought inequality and injustice

[Judi Lynn]

The Irish Times - Tuesday, November 10,
El Salvador honours martyrs who fought inequality and injustice

RITE AND REASON: A notorious event in Central American history is nearing its 20th anniversary

THE ASSASSINATION of six Jesuit priests and their housekeeper and her daughter by the Salvadoran army 20 years ago made such an impact on Noam Chomsky that in Dublin last week he referred to these murders as “the defeat of liberation theology” and “the end of Christianity”.

On the 20th anniversary next Monday, President Carlos Mauricio Funes of El Salvador will honour these martyrs with the nation’s highest award as a public act of atonement for the state’s involvement in their murders. In Ireland their memory will be celebrated at a Eucharistic celebration in the Church of the Virgin Mary, Shangan Road, Ballymun, on Sunday next, November 15th, at 7pm.

The House of Representatives of the US Congress recently passed resolution 761 to honour these martyrs, thus acknowledging American involvement in these crimes.

Conspicuous by its absence is the official church’s recognition of their martyrdom.

Why were these people murdered in El Salvador in 1989 and why, 20 years later, do they still make an impact?

These six Jesuits were responding to their superior general, Fr Pedro Arrupe, who challenged Jesuits worldwide to take up the preferential option for the poor, stating that “we cannot separate action for justice from the proclamation of the word of God”.

They transformed their Jesuit University of Central America in the capital of El Salvador, San Salvador, from being an elitist institution to one which served the marginalised in a country where 14 families owned and controlled the wealth.

More:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/1110/1224258481032.html