The Jesuit residence at UCA where five of the Jesuits' bodies were found. A rose garden was planted on the lawn to signify the area as sacred space.
Campus Ministry provided the details below about their prayer service next Wednesday:
On November 16, 1989 six Jesuits, their housekeeper, and her teenage daughter, were martyred by the Salvadoran Army at the Jesuit residence on the campus of the University of Central America (UCA) in San Salvador, El Salvador. The Jesuits and their co-workers were targeted because of their stance on human rights and justice for the poor in El Salvador during the long civil war. Father Juan Ramon Moreno, SJ, one of the victims, was a graduate of Saint Louis University.
This year, 22 years later, Campus Ministry will be remembering the lives of the Jesuits and their co-workers by holding a short prayer service on Wednesday, November 16 at the campus clock tower from 12:15-12:30pm. All faculty, staff, and students are invited to join Campus Ministry for this event.
The prayer service will be held in conjunction with a day-long School of the Americas (SOA) awareness raising vigil at the clock tower. The SOA, now called WHINSEC, is a US Army training facility for Latin American and Caribbean military personnel located in Columbus, Georgia. Following the murder of the Jesuits and their companions, a US Congressional special task force, led by Representative Joseph Moakley (D-MA), found that 19 of the 26 officers responsible for the killings had received training at the SOA.
In response to the death of the Jesuits and their co-workers, an annual vigil and non-violent protest has been held at the gates of the SOA/WHINSEC calling for its closure and for just foreign policy towards Latin America. Beginning in 1990 with just a handful of hunger strikers, the movement has grown into a gathering of nearly 20,000 participants. This year, over 11 Saint Louis University students will be attending the Georgia vigil.
Salvadoran Martyrs Prayer Service
Wednesday Nov. 16 12:15PM
The Clocktower
free
Head out this weekend and buy some canned goods so that you can participate in the Interfaith Hunger Awareness Seder. The Jewish Community Relations Council and Saint Louis University have planned the Seder for this Monday, April 2nd. It will take place in Ballroom 173 of the BSC from 5:00p.m.-6:30p.m.
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