The Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia

Aston, PA-What do the School of the Americas, the 30-year old rape and murder of four American churchwomen, and the Sisters of St. Francis have in common? It’s all about “taking the necessary risks to be a healing, compassionate presence in our violent world, especially with women, children, and those who have no voice.”

This weekend thousands of people from across the nation will gather at Fort Benning, Georgia, to demand a dramatic shift in U.S. foreign policy and the closure of the controversial U.S. Army's School of the Americas (SOA). For many years, our sisters have been among those gathered at the gates of Fort Benning, calling for the closing of the School of the Americas. This year although we have no sisters making the journey to Georgia, we will host a gathering at our motherhouse in Aston, Pennsylvania, to learn more about the SOA and to pray in solidarity with those gathered at Fort Benning. The event will take place on November 20, 2010, from 1-3 P.M. (View flyer for event schedule.) If you’re not able to join us, perhaps you, your family, and your friends can join us in prayer from wherever you are. You’ll find a prayer service on our website at www.osfphila.org/prayers/service_soa.

The School of the Americas, although located in Georgia, trains military leaders from various Latin American countries. Many of these leaders have been responsible for the murders and disappearance of thousands of people in their own countries. Among the atrocities that SOA graduates are suspected of being responsible for are the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero; the murder of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her teenage daughter; and the rape and murder of four American churchwomen. For a list of additional crimes attributed to SOA graduates, visit http://www.soaw.org/about-the-soawhinsec/soawhinsec-grads/notorious-grads/238.

This December will mark the 30th anniversary of the death of those four U.S. churchwomen—Srs. Dorothy Kazel, Maura Clarke, Ita Ford, and lay woman Jean Donovan—who were brutally raped and murdered in El Salvador in 1980. Two of our sisters, Srs. Jean Rupertus and Julie Keegan, will participate in the SHARE delegation to El Salvador from November 29 to December 6, 2010.

We invite you to join with us during these days to pray for these women who were murdered in El Salvador thirty years ago, for all of the murdered or “disappeared,” for all of those gathered to commemorate this event, and for the people of El Salvador. Use the following link to find both information about the four women and ideas for prayer. http://www.paxchristiusa.org/Churchwomen30thAnniversaryPacket.pdf
"Despite a shocking human rights record, this school continues to operate with U.S. taxpayer money," said Sister Dominica LoBianco. "Closing the SOA would send a strong human rights message to Latin America and the world."

The SOA, now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, made headlines in 1996 when the Pentagon released training manuals used at the school that advocated torture, extortion, and execution. Despite this admission and hundreds of documented human rights abuses connected to soldiers trained at the school, no independent investigation into the facility has ever taken place.

"It is up to us to hold those responsible accountable and to push for the closing of the School of the Americas and a change in U.S. foreign policy" said Father Roy Bourgeois, the founder of SOA Watch. "Too many have died and continue to suffer at the hands of graduates of this notorious institute."