This week Boston College is commemorating the assassinations of 6 Jesuits and two innocent women in El Salvador. BC hosted a presentation with Father Sobrino, S.J. Father Sobrino was a 7th Jesuit from the same residence in El Salvador that happened to be in the US for an academic conference when the killings took place. In addition, BC invited Father Monan, S.J. and Noam Chomsky to join in discussion.
Each participant focused on a separate aspect of the November, 16th 1989 murders. Monan focused on the investigations that followed the incident. He also spoke of his personal experience with the legal trails that resulted in the identification and ‘not-responsible’ verdict of the perpetrators.
Father Sobrino, who had flown in from El Salvador to participate in the discussion, discussed the two women who were killed. He suggested that too much focus was on the Jesuits, and instead people should be aware of the tens of thousands of innocents who gave their lives simply because they were caught in tumultuous time in an unstable country. Finally, Noam Chomsky, true to form, all but condemned the United States for its detrimental meddling in the affairs of other sovereignties.
Hopefully, we, as students of a Jesuit institution, are both aware of this specific atrocity and are especially sensitive to murder of these clergymen. This week should help bring our focus to the world beyond our immediate concern. Father Sobrino felt we are in a unique position, regardless of political persuasion, to reflect on the world community rather than to remain naïve towards it. We should actively seek to benefit from the availability and access to discussions about this and other events that transpire in the world in which we live.
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