American Martyrs of El Salvador:

Saints for Our Times

            December 2, 2005 marks the 25th anniversary of the killing of four American churchwomen serving with Maryknoll in El Salvador. Sister Ita Ford, M.M., Sister Maura Clark, M.M., Sister Dorothy Kazel, O.S.U. and Jean Donovan, a lay volunteer, were killed by the Salvadoran National Guard a few miles from the airport in San Salvador.  A chapel dedicated to the women now stands near the spot where their bodies had been buried.   The four churchwomen are known to Salvadorans as the United States’ greatest gift to El Salvador. 

Their lives of service to the poor brought them into conflict with Ronald Reagan’s anti-communist agenda.  The killings took place shortly after Reagan was elected President in 1980.  He promised to take a strong stand against Communism.  In a letter to her Maryknoll superior, Sister Ita had written: “The Committee fears that decisive action will be taken by our [US] government under the guise of 'stopping communism' - and that all of Central America will be involved if it happens.”  This threat, however, did not affect her commitment to her work in El Salvador.  In the same letter, Ita stated: “It's a heavy scene - but if we have a preferential option for the poor as well as a commitment for justice as a basis for the coming of the Kingdom, we're going to have to take sides in El Salvador - correction - we have."

            Reagan’s United Nations ambassador-designate, Jean Kirkpatrick, said in an interview just days after the murders that the women "were not just nuns, they were political activists," and we "ought to be a little clearer about these things."  Their “political activism” consisted of walking with the poor of El Salvador.

            Ironically, Jean Donovan, the youngest member of the group at age 28, had been “a loyal, patriotic Republican” according to her mother.  Before joining Maryknoll, Jean had earned an M.B.A. from Case Western Reserve University and then had taken a job as a management consultant for an accounting firm in Cleveland.  Despite her party affiliation, Jean also saw the direct connection  between the violence in El Salvador and the policies endorsed by the new Republican president.  Wrote Jean‘s mother, "Things grew progressively worse in El Salvador after the United States election [in November, 1980]...The military [of El Salvador] believed they were given a blank check - no restrictions. In light of what happened, who's to say they weren't?  Jean had told us that she feared there would be a bloodbath in El Salvador."

            Despite the worsening situation in El Salvador, Jean chose to continue her service there.  Two weeks before she was murdered, with the bloodbath already begun, she wrote to a friend in Connecticut: "Several times I have decided to leave El Salvador. I almost could except for the children, the poor bruised victims of this insanity. Who would care for them? Whose heart would be so staunch as to favor the reasonable thing in a sea of their tears and helplessness?  Not mine, dear friend, not mine."

            All of the women were known for their love of life as well as their dedication to the poor.  As a student at Maryknoll, it was not unusual for Jean to gather her classmates after a day of studies to go to the local bar for a beer.  In speaking of Jean’s work, her mother Patricia said, "Jean took her commitment to the campesinos very seriously. She was strongly motivated by St. Francis of Assisi and by Archbishop Oscar Romero. She translated God's teachings into clothing for the poor, feeding the hungry, and caring for the wounded refugees - mainly children - who had lost what little they had."

            Sister Maura also shared this commitment to the poor.  She was known to Maryknollers for her frequent requests for shoes.  Whenever she saw a poor woman without shoes, Maura would take off her shoes, give them to the woman, and then walk home barefoot.  This routine was always followed by her writing a letter to friends in the U.S. requesting a new pair of shoes. 

            Despite the challenges, Sister Ita had found her life’s work with the poor in Latin America.  She summed up her understanding of mission in the following excerpt from a letter to her  niece:    “I hope

you come to find that which gives life a deep meaning for you.  Something worth living for--maybe even worth dying for--something that energizes you, enthuses you, enables you to keep moving ahead.”

            Sister Dorothy, an Ursuline sister from Cleveland, reflected on her experiences in El Salvador in a letter to a friend in November 1980.  In the letter, she wrote of El Salvador as a country "writhing in pain - a country that daily faces the loss of so many of its people - and yet a country that is waiting, hoping, yearning for peace. . . . Yes, we have a sense of waiting, hoping, and yearning for a complete realization of the Kingdom, and yet we know it will come because we can celebrate Him here right now."

            Sister Dorothy summarized the sentiments of the missioners in a letter written to a friend in October, 1980: "We talked quite a bit today about what happens IF something begins. Most of us feel we would want to stay here...We wouldn't want to just run out on the people...I thought I should say this to you because I don't want to say it to anyone else - because I don't think they would understand. Anyway, my beloved friend, just know how I feel and 'treasure it in your heart.' If a day comes when others will have to understand, please explain it for me."

Compiled from

http://www.rtfcam.org/martyrs/women/women.htm and an interview with Brother Tim Raible, M.M.