SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS: SUMMARY POINTS

John Carroll University Will Participate in the Annual Protest and Vigil at the School of the Americas

John Carroll University is sponsoring a trip to Fort Benning, Georgia for students, faculty, and staff who will participate in an “Ignatian Family Teach-In” and a vigil and protest against the U.S. Army’s School of the Americas (SOA).

The trip is planned for the weekend of November 16-18, 2007 (Friday through Sunday).  Twenty-five students and five administrators and staff from John Carroll are participating.  Other Jesuit institutions from the area that will send students include Xavier University, U. of Detroit Mercy, Canisius College, Wheeling University, St. Ignatius H.S., University of Detroit H.S., Walsh Jesuit H.S., and St. John’s Jesuit H.S (Toledo).

The John Carroll trip is organized by the Office of Campus Ministry.  There will be a prayer and commissioning service for the group in St Francis Chapel on Thursday, November 15, (TIME TBA).  Participants will leave campus at approximately 9:30 AM on Friday, November 16 return to campus by 1 AM on Monday, November 19.  

The vigil at Fort Benning commemorates the assassination of six Jesuit priests and two companions by Salvadoran soldiers at the University of Central America (UCA), a Jesuit university, on November 16, 1989.

The Jesuits, through their teaching, research, and ministry, were striving for social justice and an improved standard of living for the poor of El Salvador.  The murders prompted a grassroots movement that began in 1990 to close the School of the Americas because many of the Salvadoran soldiers and officers responsible for the crime received extensive training at the School of the Americas.

Website about the Jesuit Martyrs at Creighton University’s Website: http://www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/10th-anniv.html

The vigil and protest is organized nationally by the School of the Americas Watch (SOAWatch), a non-profit organization opposing the continuing operation of the School of the Americas.

John Carroll’s participants are part of a broad coalition that includes most Jesuit schools and many other Catholic colleges, universities, and social justice organizations.  SOAWatch was established in 1990 at the initiation of Fr. Roy Bourgeois, a Maryknoll priest.  Fr. Bourgeois had spent a significant amount of time in Latin America and had witnessed the actions of SOA trained soldiers.  Students, faculty and staff taking part in the trip align themselves with SOAWatch and numerous other human rights and advocacy groups focused on Latin America.  The organizations advocate closing the SOA and changing U.S. policy (both military, political and economic) to respect the human rights of Latin Americans, especially the poor.

Nearly every Jesuit university in the country sponsors the trip to Fort Benning for the vigil and protest.  Boston College traditionally brings over 100 students.  Schools such as Spring Hill College and Creighton University fill their reservation lists in early October.  The vigil and protest in 2004 consisted of an estimated 16,000 people. 

John Carroll students have been participating in the protest and vigil since 1997.  John Carroll receives funding to support this social justice initiative from the Social Ministries Office of the Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus

The U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA), now named the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), is a U.S. Army training school for soldiers and police forces from Latin America. 

WHINSEC is located at Fort Benning, a military base located in southeastern Georgia (Columbus).  The majority of the institute’s instructors are U.S. military personnel.   During the 1980's and 1990's, many Latin American graduates of the SOA were found to be associated with or responsible for the torture and assassination of thousands of Latin American people, including the following victims in El Salvador: Archbishop Oscar Romero (1980), four U.S. churchwomen (1980), six Jesuit priests and their housekeeper and her daughter (1989).  

On September 20, 1996, under intense public pressure, the Pentagon was forced to release training manuals that were used at the School of the Americas for years. These manuals advocated torture, extortion, blackmail and the targeting of civilian populations.  The School of the Americas’ administrators were forced to remove portions of the training manuals that were found to be inappropriate for use in military training of Latin American soldiers.

In 2001, the school's name was changed to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation by an act of the U.S. Congress.

In February of 2005, eight members of the San José de Apartadó Peace Community in Urabá, Colombia—including three young children—were brutally massacred. Witnesses identified the killers as members of the Colombian military, and peace community members saw the army’s 17th and 11th Brigades in the area around the time of the murders. General Héctor Jaime Fandiño Rincón is the commander of the 17th Brigade of the Colombian army. Fandiño Rincón is a graduate of the School of the Americas

Students also participate in the Ignatian Family Teach-In sponsored by Ignatian Solidarity Network based at the University of San Francisco and founded by the Jesuit Conference.

The Ignatian Family Teach-In (IFT) began approximately ten years ago to provide students from Jesuit institutions a chance to join together and learn more about social justice issues facing the world today and to share their work for social justice at their respective schools. Speakers vary form year to year but have included: Sr. Helen Prejean, author of “Dead Man Walking”; Fr. Charles Currie, S.J., President of the Association of Jesuit Colleges (AJCU); Marie Dennis, Director of Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns; Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence; Fr. Roy Bourgeois, Founder of SOA Watch; and Dave Robinson, Director of Pax Christi, USA.  This year, JCU President Fr. Robert Niehoff, S.J. will speak at the Teach-In on Friday (11/16) evening.

On Saturday evening, over 4,000 people will return to celebrate a Catholic Mass at the IFT site.  Fr.. Gerald J. Chojnacki, S.J., Provincial of the New York Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), will be the principal celebrant of this liturgy.  Consistently students, talk about the power of this liturgy and its impact on their spirituality that promotes justice.

The entire teach-in is organized by the Ignatian Solidarity Network, an offshoot of the Jesuit Conference.  The Network strives to facilitate and enhance the effectiveness of existing social justice and advocacy efforts that are currently present in Jesuit-affiliated high schools, universities and colleges, parishes, retreat centers, independent organizations and lay individuals across the nation.

Ignatian Solidarity Network Website: http://www.ignatiansolidarity.net/isn_view/servlet/HomePage

Ignatian Family Teach-In Schedule: http://www.ignatiansolidarity.net/georgia_teachin.pdf

Throughout their experience, John Carroll students are given multiple opportunities to reflect and make connections to their own spiritual development.

The trip to Fort Benning begins with a prayer service organized by students in collaboration with our Campus Ministry staff.  Students are offered opportunities to learn more about the people they travel with to Georgia, to discuss why they are going, to reflect on the experiences of each day, and to talk about how they can share their experience with others when they return.  In addition, this year students have had the opportunity two meet with two native Salvadorans who spoke to the reality of SOA training in their own country.  They are also met with a member of the Cleveland Catholic Worker community who recently participated in a delegation to Colombia and spoke about the human rights abuses related to U.S. military training of Colombia soldiers.  The prayer and reflection throughout the experience is done within the context of Catholic social teaching and the statements of the Social Development and World Peace Office of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). 

All students participating in the experience take part in an orientation session and nonviolence workshop where they learn more about the SOAWatch movement and its commitment to nonviolence. 

Upon their return, the group will gather often to discuss their experiences and discern what their next steps should be.  One opportunity for them will be to participate in a memorial Mass on December 1st in memory of Sr. Dorothy Kazel and three other churchwomen who were murdered by Salvadoran soldiers on December 2, 1980.  (As was the case with the murdered Jesuits, many of the soldiers and commanding officers who committed this crime had been trained at the School of the Americas.)   

In addition, students participating in the trip will be invited to take part in a faith-based advocacy day scheduled for the spring semester.  During this trip, students will travel to Washington, DC to meet with representatives from non-governmental agencies working for human rights in Latin America.  They then will meet with U.S. Congressional Representative and Senators and staff to discuss U.S. policy in Latin America in the context of Catholic social teaching. In May of 2007, 15 students traveled to Washington, D.C. for this advocacy experience and the opportunity to meet with staff from seven different House of Representatives offices and both Ohio's senators offices. The group also had an opportunity to meet with representatives from the Jesuit Conference and Public Citizen: Global Trade Watch, to learn more about issues facing the people of Latin America.

The trip exposes students to a broader movement for social justice that relates to their experiences on immersion trips sponsored by Campus Ministry, the Center for Service & Social Action, and numerous academic departments.

The focus of many of these trips is to analyze the social situation and determine how we are called as global citizens and people of faith to act for social justice.  Each year students travel to El Salvador, Ecuador, Mexico and numerous destinations in the United States to be exposed to the rough realities of economic poverty and social injustice.

JCU Immersion Experience Website: http://www.jcu.edu/immersion

John Carroll’s Campus Ministry office is committed to providing students with educational opportunities to learn about the role of the SOA from both sides of the issue.  

On October 20, 2005 Campus Ministry, in collaboration with numerous departments on campus, hosted a forum to discuss the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation as well as U.S. policy in Latin America.  Over 100 students attended this forum, which is also available for students to listen to online.  The forum included the public affairs office from the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly named the SOA), a representative from the U.S. Army, a college professor who has written a book critical of the SOA, and a local human rights representative working to close the school. 

Forum to discuss the school and U.S. policy: http://www.jcu.edu/news/soa_panel.htm

The Jesuit Conference (via the Jesuit Advocates USA) continues to keep the situation in Colombia as a focus issue. 

Colombia is a country that continues to receive graduates of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (the SOA) and also receives significant military funding from the United States.  By participating in the Ignatian Family Teach-In, students are participating in advocacy for policies that respect human rights in Latin America.

Jesuit Advocates USA (Jesuit Conference) Website: http://www.jesuit.org/jcosim/jsim_web3_007.htm

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