Why the Four US Churchwomen are Important Today

On December 5th, St John Francis Regis, a long-time SHARE sister in Kansas City, MO, hosted a prayer service in commemoration of the four US churchwomen killed in El Salvador 30 years ago.  Over 200 people attended a service that included processions, prayers and a powerful reflection by Sr. Mary McGlone. You can read the story about the event on a local newspaper's website.  

Photo thanks to The Catholic Key Online.

 Father Tom Holder reflects on the date:

I believe there are several reasons why the commemoration is still important today. There is still work to be done and we need to remember the commitment and courage of the four churchwomen to give us strength to do the hard work of justice. We need to make sure the younger generation has a sense of the real history of the region and the ability our country has to influence things, both in good and bad ways. In the Kansas City area, there are growing numbers of Salvadoran immigrants. They are here because they still suffer hardship and persecution. We need to hear the stories so that we can continue to be in solidarity with the people of El Salvador. The four churchwomen teach us the importance of putting a face on the issues. They inspire us by their example and call us to see the people of El Salvador as our brothers and sisters.

Catholic Church presents 300,000 signatures against equality

The Catholic Church presented El Salvador's Legislative Assembly with 300,000 signatures of people who are in favor of a constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union solely between a man and a woman. Only 56 votes are needed to approve the amendment, and all but one political party (FMLN) have stated their support for the amendment. The Archbishop of San Salvador, José Luis Escobar Alas (left), stated that the legislation would not discriminate against homosexual relationships. Instead, the legislation would serve to "safeguard the good of the family, the good of matrimony, and the good of society." He further stated, "We want to put up padlocks so that society's values are firm."

In an interview published in La Página, Ana Cisneros (right), a leader of the LGBT rights movement in El Salvador and honorary member of Las Dignas, stated that the Catholic Church does not have the moral ground to oppose same sex marriages. Cisneros stated that if the Catholic Church truly wanted to protect the institutions of marriage and family, the Church would work to create better conditions so families can be lifted out of poverty. As for the Legislative Assembly, "it would be better if they dedicated themselves to creating legislation that would protect children and single women or generate jobs." In an allusion to the Church's hardline stance on abortion and contraception, Cisneros asserted, "The Catholic Church cares about you when you are a fetus, but when a person is born, it abandons him or her." Cisneros admitted that marriage is not the end-all-be-all for the LGBT community in El Salvador, but "we want the same rights, that's all...to choose our own way of life."

*Photos from Day Life and La Página.

- Sara Skinner, US Grassroots Coordinator

Salvadoran Government trying to ban gay marriage...

There is limited information and news regarding the new constitutional amendment for the Salvadoran government on making marriage only between a man and a women, but the following article was posted on the Melbourne Community Voice for Gay and Lesbian Readers:

Wednesday, 22 April 2009

Members of El Salvador’s gay community hang a rainbow flag bearing the words ‘Paedophile Priests’ in Spanish outside the Legislative Assembly in San Salvador on Monday, April 20, 2009 to protest the Catholic Church’s request to legally prohibit marriages between gays.
The action is a response to the Church’s claim to have amassed 200,000 signatures on a petition in support of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages, which is currently before the legislature.

“The basic unit of society is the family, and consequently so is marriage, and therefore it deserves a true constitutional definition,” the Archbishop of San Salvador, Jose Luis Escobar, said at a press conference on Sunday. He went on to say same-sex marriages “are not moral and therefore cannot be considered marriage, but in fact are [unions], but that’s another thing,” the website SDPNoticias.com reports.

The LGBT movement in El Salvador has continuously fought for job security and simple recognition. They have not fought for marriage, but ARENA has pushed this agenda and now we will find out today if the Legislative Assembly will pass the amendment.

*Photo courtesy of the Melbourne Community Voice for Gay and Lesbian Readers.

-Posted by Gregory Stock, Communications and Development Officer

Weekly Current Events, April 17, 2009

In the 16 April edition of Prensa Latina, they reported that governing party of El Salvador, ARENA, approved the Law of Integral Protection of Children and Adolescents. "The law establishes universal education for children and adolescents, prompt medical attention in cases of emergency by an hospital, either from the national network, social security or private sector."

The Associated Press reported that President Barack Obama will be entering the Latin American region for the first time today, Friday, during the fifth Summit of the Americas. The summit agenda has six topics of interest: prosperity, energy, the environment, security, democratic governance, and the summit process itself.

It was reported by the Associated Press on Wednesday from the Vatican City that there will be a doctrinal investigation into the leadership of the Catholic sisters of the United States, reportedly because they have not sufficiently promoted the Vatican line on homosexuality and other issues. There have been problems since 2001 regarding the sisters lack of promotion of teaching on homosexuality, salvation and the priesthood, which the Vatican says is reserved for men. The US Conference have said they have been confident in their teachings and have been faithful to its mission of women's orders.

Sources: Prensa Latina, Nassau News Live, The Seattle Times, and the Associated Press.

-Gregory Stock, Communications and Development Officer

Father Miguel Vasquez visits Kansas City to commemorate Oscar Romero

The article below provides coverage of Father Miguel Vasquez's recent tour to Kansas City, MO, sponsored by the SHARE Foundation, the Kansas City Sister Parish Committee, and St. Sabina Parish. Father Miguel (in photo at left), from Arcatao, El Salvador, spoke to the community about his memories of Oscar Romero, who was assassinated before he was scheduled to ordain Father Miguel to become a priest. Below is an article written by Kevin Kelly for the Catholic Key.

Father Miguel Vasquez Hernandez knew the four U.S. women missionaries who were raped and murdered by Salvadoran National Guard soldiers in December 1980.

As a newly ordained priest, he served the same poor in the same area of the country as did Maryknoll Sisters Ita Ford and Maura Clarke, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel and lay missioner Jean Donovan.

Father Vasquez also knew the six Jesuit professors at Central American University, who were slain execution-style on the campus in November 1989. They taught him when he was a seminarian nine years earlier.

But Father Vasquez also knew very well San Salvador Archbishop Oscar Romero, gunned down as he was celebrating Mass on March 25, 1980.

Like all bishops, Archbishop Romero took a special and personal interest in his seminarians, Father Vasquez told nearly 100 people at the annual memorial, held this year at St. Sabina Parish, for the archbishop who has become a symbol of service to the poor to the point of sacrificing life.

“When they killed Archbishop Romero, I devoted myself to working with the poor and the refugees,” Father Vasquez told the gathering March 20.

Now the pastor of San Bartolome Parish in an area outside of San Salvador that was hit hard by the civil war that raged through the 1980s, Father Vasquez said that Archbishop Romero remains alive in the people he serves.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

- Sara Skinner, US Grassroots Coordinator

Spanish judge will hear the UCA murders case

A Spanish judge has agreed to investigate 14 Salvadoran military officers, and possibly former Salvadoran president Alfredo Cristiani, for the murders of six Jesuit priests and two women at the Central American University (UCA) in 1989. The ruling was in response to the Center for Justice and Accountability's (CJA) lawsuit against Cristiani and the former military officers filed in November 2008.

Although far from an indictment, for many, the judge's decision already feels like a victory for the cause of justice in El Salvador. In 1992, El Salvador's government passed an amnesty law that provides amnesty to all perpetrators of war crimes during the country 12-year Civil War. Spain is able to prosecute the perpetrators of the Jesuit case under a legal principle called "universal jurisdiction," through which Spain has pursued other high profile cases, including an attempt to extradite Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet for torture.

The Hartford Courant reports that Benjamin Cuellar, director of the Human Rights Institute in San Salvador, said his group "doesn't oppose the prosecution but believes justice can be achieved only in Salvadoran courts." However, it does not seem that the amnesty law will be lifted in El Salvador anytime soon. With the presidential election quickly approaching, neither of the two candidates have agreed to lift the law. Mauricio Funes, the FMLN presidential candidate, has stated, "We cannot change the past of hate, of confrontation. The future, we can build differently." Almudena Bernabeu, an attorney for CJA, cites the impunity of war criminals as sources of El Salvador's current "crime-ridden status." She asserts, "When a society develops the idea that they will never be punished no matter what they do, it perverts the society."

To read the Hartford Courant's article, click here.

To learn more about the Jesuit murders case, click here.

- Sara Skinner, US Grassroots Coordinator

Salvadoran Archbishop: "El Salvador's Problems Should Be Resolved in El Salvador."

The Salvadoran Archbishop, Fernando Sáenz Lacalle, spoke out against the recent criminal complaint against former Salvadoran president, Alfredo Cristiani, and 14 other former military members for the murder of the six Jesuit priests and two female employees in El Salvador in 1989. The Archbishop responded to the news by commenting, "El Salvador's problems should be resolved in El Salvador." However, many argue that the case cannot be resolved in El Salvador because of the amnesty laws that protect war criminals from the Salvadoran civil war.

Click here to read the article in the National Catholic Reporter.
Look for the quote from SHARE's executive director, José Artiga!

- Posted by Sara Skinner, US Grassroots Coordinator, SHARE Foundation