Dorothy Stang 10th Anniversary

On Feb. 12, 2005, two hired gunmen killed Sister Dorothy Stang, 73, in a remote Brazilian settlement just off the Trans-Amazonian Highway. As a tireless advocate for the poor and landless in Brazil for more than three decades, the Ohio-born nun came into conflict with ruthless landowners. Three nuns from Stang’s order, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, continue to live in the small city of Anapu in the wooden house where Stang lived until her death. On the 10th anniversary of her slaying, the nuns still advocate on behalf of the small-scale farmers, and the scourge of land conflicts in the Amazon has not been resolved. In the state of Para, where Stang was murdered, the Pastoral Land Commission, an organization founded by the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops and dedicated to combating rural violence, has documented 118 deaths since 2005 and numerous instances of harassment, forced evictions, threats and physical violence. Many of these cases have gone unpunished.