25th Anniversary of the Jesuit Martyrs of El Salvador

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, in mid-November I was privileged to
participate in the 25th Anniversary observance of the Jesuit martyrs of
El Salvador. On November 16, 1989, the Salvadoran military carried out
a joint operation with the specific purpose to enter the campus of the
Jesuit-administered University of Central America Jose Simeon Canas
(the UCA) and murder the university rector and several of its faculty.
That evening, members of the Salvadoran Army shot and killed six Jesuit
priests, including the rector, along with two women, a housekeeper and
her teenage daughter, who were being sheltered at the university that
evening.

This year I traveled to El Salvador as part of a delegation led by
the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), which included many
presidents and officials of U.S. Jesuit colleges and universities. It
was a very moving experience, one that strengthened both my faith and
my commitment to stand up for human rights everywhere, including in my
own country.

I was invited to participate in one of the forums organized by the
UCA as part of the 25th Anniversary events, The Legacy of the Jesuits
on U.S. Foreign Policy toward El Salvador and Central America and on
the Society of Jesus. Also appearing on the panel were Fr. Charlie
Currie, SJ, with Georgetown University and executive president of
Jesuit Commons; Fr. Michael Sheeran, SJ, president, Association of
Jesuit Colleges and Universities/AJCU (in the USA); Fr. Andreu Oliva,
SJ, rector, UCA; Geoff Thale, WOLA; and Fr. Tom Smolich, SJ, former
president of US Conference of Jesuit Provincials.

I would like to submit the remarks I presented at the UCA on how the
murders of the six Jesuits and two women affected me and how I see
their legacy in El Salvador and the United States.

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