Dennis lauds Salvadoran martyrs
NELLIE WILLIAMS
News Writer
On Nov. 16, 1989, six Jesuit priests and two women in El Salvador were mercilessly gunned down.
Tuesday, Sister Marie Dennis, director of the Maryknoll Peace and Justice Center came to Saint Mary's from Washington to tell their story. "Like grains of wheat," she said. "They were holy people of God."
The "grains of wheat" were Ignatio Ellacuria, Segundo Montes, Nacho Martin-Baro, Juan Ramon Moreno, Amanda Lopex and Joaquin Lopez y Lopez. The two women killed were Elba Ramos and her 15-year-old daughter, Celina.
"[These people] were imitators of Christ, followers of Jesus. They were seeds of new life," Dennis said.
The country of El Salvador is filled with poverty. In a very complex situation, the government and military control most of the wealth and had wanted the poor to stay in poverty, Dennis said. As long as there was poverty, there was economic and social power in El Salvador.
The Jesuits, however, spoke out. They critiqued the government and the Farabundo Martin Liberacion Nacional.
"[The Jesuits] were given to dedicated service," Dennis said.
They taught in the Central American University in El Salvador and were theologians, sociologists and psychologists.
"They were able to stand in the shoes of the poor," Dennis said. "They always, always talked about justice. They believed it was possible to bring in peace and justice."
Their beliefs and hopes for the poor of El Salvador cost the Jesuits their lives.
"The strength of their action terrified authority," Dennis said.
John Sabreno, also a Jesuit who taught at the university with the other six, was away in Thailand when his brothers were killed.
"No account is more poignant than his own," Dennis said of Sabreno. "He wrote, `My whole community had been killed.'"
He went on to tell how two of his brothers had been taken out into the garden, beaten and machine-gunned down while the others where shot down in their beds. The two women staying in the house were there because they "felt safer in the house with all that was going on."
"The Jesuits were killed because of their belief in and love for the poor," said Dennis.
Dennis said people should be challenged, especially at this time in Lent to think about the martyrs and our own lives.
"We need to place ourselves before the crucifix and ask ourselves honestly what we have done and what we are going to do [for the poor]," she said. "It is not possible to keep on living in abundance. We are wanting more and more while millions of people are dying day by day."
She also said that people need to find "places to walk with the poor" and allow them to change them and become more human. People need to challenge themselves to take down barriers that separate them from the crucified ones, she said.
Dennis emphasized that even in her own life she had a hard time dealing with a poor family. Her heart went out to them, yet she could not find within herself the courage to invite them to her home.
"I was embarrassed to invite these children to our home because we had so much more than they did," she said.
"[The martyrs] are a cloud of witnesses to the gospel," Dennis said. "They are seekers of a new life for us — the martyrs of El Salvador."
All News Stories for Wednesday, March 8, 2000
