Their Work Continues

In El Salvador, North Americans and Salvadorans gathered in the village of San Francisco Hacienda on Dec. 2 at the precise spot where four U.S. churchwomen were killed 35 years ago. “It is important for us to remember that her work for justice and peace lives on,” Terri Keogh told the crowd, referring to her sister Maura Clarke, a Maryknoll sister, during the memorial service held to commemorate the somber anniversary of the killings. On Dec. 2, 1980, Sister Clarke and Ita Ford, also a Maryknoll sister; Sister Dorothy Kazel, an Ursuline; and Jean Donovan, a lay missionary, were abducted, raped and murdered by members of the Salvadoran National Guard. This Dec. 2, in a memorial service held in San Salvador’s Parque Cuscatlan, a U.S. delegation called for the Salvadoran government to reopen the investigation into the women’s deaths to find the truth about who gave the orders for the killings. It is important to “ask the Salvadoran government and prosecutors to open this case, so that the masterminds of this crime do not walk free, with impunity,” said Claire White, who was present on behalf of her father, former Ambassador Robert White, who died in January.