Remembering the Jesuit Martyrs
Today, on the 16th anniversary of their deaths, we remember the six Jesuits from the University of Central America (UCA) in El Salvador, their housekeeper and her daughter. Fr. Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J., former editor in chief of America magazine and president of Fordham University (1984-2003), gave this homily at a memorial Mass for the slain Jesuits of El Salvador at St. Ignatius Church in New York City on November 22, 1989, six days after their deaths:

The occasion for our liturgy is the tragedy of last Thursday, Nov. 16, when six Jesuits and two of their household family at the Central American University in San Salvador were brutally murdered and mutilated in the early morning hours. We mourn not only for them, but for all the victims of this wasteful war that for more than 10 years has bled a tiny, tortured country. We mourn for the 70,000 people of El Salvador who have died in this war and the hundreds of thousands who have been displaced by the fighting. Read complete homily

SOA Demonstration This Weekend
This weekend, thousands will gather at Fort Benning, Georgia—one of the largest military bases in the world and home of the notorious School of the Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC)—to peacefully protest and call for the school’s closing. The SOA trains Latin American security personnel in combat, counter-insurgency, and counter-narcotics. SOA graduates are responsible for some of the worst human rights abuses in Latin America, including the murders of the six Jesuits of the UCA, their housekeeper and her daughter on November 16, 1989. See www.soaw.org for a schedule and descriptions of events. We will have a table at the event promoting CRISPAZ and selling fair trade crafts.

Schedule of Commemorative Events for the Four Churchwomen
Friday, December 2, marks the 25th anniversary of the martyrdom of the four American churchwomen killed in El Salvador. Click here for more information about the four churchwomen and to see a list of events in San Salvador and in cities in the United States. If your local event is not listed, send complete information to salvanet@crispaz.org.

Guatemalan Bishop Says CAFTA Will Hurt the Poor
In an editorial published this week in the National Catholic Reporter, Guatemalan Bishop Álvaro Ramazinni warned of the increased economic strife CAFTA may bring to his already impoverished country. Read editorial