For the more than 500 boys and girls — mostly from poor or destitute families — who get a K-9 education at Santa Luisa, the school is an oasis from a city suffocating from drugs, gangs and violence. For many students, Santa Luisa represents their best chance to break out of the cycle of poverty that surrounds them daily.

Santa Luisa is beginning its 76th year and would not have reached its milestone 75th year without the aid of a group of alumni from the University of Scranton (Pa.). Led by Jesuit Father Brendan Lally, who now serves as a spiritual director at St. Joseph University in Philadelphia, the non-profit Salvadoran Children of the Poor Education Foundation (SCOPE) has helped Santa Luisa meet its annual budget and supply basic needs for the past decade.

SCOPE is the product of two immersion programs Fr. Lally steered over two decades at the University of Scranton. The first, International Service Program, began in 1987 and takes students and alumni to two homes for street children in Mexico City for six weeks of the summer. Its success spawned a second program, Bridges to El Salvador, formed after Fr. Lally’s heart was moved by the Catholic witness of the people there.

A visit to Santa Luisa School has always been part of the Bridges itinerary. Lally has taken groups of students, professors, university staff, fellow priests, seminarians and alumni through the streets of San Salvador, including to the martyrdom sites of Archbishop Oscar Romero (1980), the six Jesuits gunned down at the University of Central America (1989) and the three American nuns and church worker who were kidnapped, raped and shot in December 1980.

“I wanted (pilgrims) to meet the people and to discover the reality of their lives, to experience their faith, to listen to their stories and to let them know that their sisters and brothers in faith from the U.S. cared about them and were united with them,” he said. “We were also seeking our own conversion, so that we could discover the Gospel alive amid the materially poor — the gospel that Archbishop Romero died for, the gospel that could change our own lives and attitudes.”

Founded in 1935 by the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, Santa Luisa currently has a staff of 23 lay teachers and four Sisters of Charity. Lally said that he has great admiration for the staff’s passion to be both educators and positive role models for the students.

“Santa Luisa caught my imagination because it was doing something concrete to make a difference in the lives of those children each year. It was being led by heroic and generous nuns and dedicated lay teachers. It was giving the children one gift that so many of us take for granted — opportunity,” Fr. Lally said. “This was not lost on the children. They knew they were getting an opportunity to change their lives and hopefully not have to fall back into the unemployment and poverty of their families. While there are no guarantees regarding their futures, this is the best possible gateway to a better life.”

One of the school’s former students, Maria Menjivar, now works as an accountant in Maryland. She attended Santa Luisa from 1977-82, which overlaps with the beginning of the bloody El Salvador civil war from 1980-92 that claimed the lives of an estimated 75,000 people — including Archbishop Romero, who was assassinated while celebrating Mass. She recalled how it was common for armies from both sides to try to recruit children at schools, so the nuns would funnel the children to a hiding place in a nearby church until the soldiers left. Her family would emigrate to the United States in 1986 to escape the bloodshed.

Three decades after she left Santa Luisa, Menjivar fondly recalls her time there as one where she received an excellent education and was formed solidly in her faith. While a student there, she received the sacrament of confirmation from Archbishop Romero. Menjivar said Santa Luisa was where she developed strong senses of discipline and responsibility.

“Santa Luisa was very Catholic. The values are there,” she said. “When I attended, the nuns were very strict and very good teachers.”

Menjivar said that admission to Santa Luisa was in great demand because it charged a small tuition and yet offered the opportunity to get the education of a more expensive private school. She remembers beginning each day lined up outside with other students for prayer and a uniform check. Not much has changed three decades later, as students still wear uniforms and prayer is still a big part of the daily life there.

Teacher Norma Peña has rotated between grammar, literature and science at Santa Luisa since 2002. She said the teachers are focused on full formation of the person, not just education in various subjects.

“One of the challenges is trying to teach them that violence will be outside and maybe for a long time. We’re trying to interest each kid and teach them how to say ‘no’ when they need to say ‘no,’” she said. “We want to make an impression on how to be a better person and prepare them for high school.”

Peña said that, among the spiritual activities at Santa Luisa are daily prayer, monthly Mass and the celebration of the feast days of Santa Luisa and St. Vincent de Paul.

She added that the school’s many needs include a science lab and updated computers.

“Right now, we do everything verbally and don’t do any experiments,” she said.

Santa Luisa runs a deficit each year in the thousands of U.S. dollars, and the board members of SCOPE, along with dedicated volunteers, try to raise the difference. The nuns at Santa Luisa also subsidize the school by running a shop that makes Communion hosts for local parishes.

Even though parents of Santa Luisa students are required to pay as much tuition as they can (a full year is about $50 U.S. per student), the nuns at Santa Luisa also do not want to turn any children away. So, SCOPE is helping the staff create a sustainable business model and is also building a principal fund with the hope that the interest will be enough to subsidize whatever the school cannot collect. Because everyone involved in SCOPE volunteers their time, 100 percent of donations go to Santa Luisa. SCOPE’s overhead expenses are covered by its members.

“You can educate an entire school for less than it costs to send one U.S. college student to a private school for one year,” said SCOPE president Matthew O’Rourke of Denver.

In his trips to El Salvador over the years, O’Rourke said he has experienced a country decimated by unemployment and broken families due to emigration to the United States and other countries to find work. Many of these families send children to Santa Luisa.

“This is the pilgrim church, the church marginalized, the aching wounds of Christ, his Body scourged and his poor marginalized,” he said. “(SCOPE) is a work of mercy.”

Fr. Lally calls Santa Luisa a “city of joy in the midst of the poverty and the discouragement it brings. It is a school for the poorest of the poor, and its mission is aimed at the heart of the problems in society.”

“If the life of one innocent child is saved from the filth and death of the streets, it will all have been worthwhile,” he added. “But we have the opportunity here to give over 500 children each year the gift of life and hope and joy. Each of us have had that gift as a given in our lives. I think it is time now to pass that gift on.”

To learn more about SCOPE, go to www.scopefoundation.com.

[Catholic News Agency]

In 1990, Jesuit Father Dean Brackley volunteered to leave his position in the New York Province of Jesuits and move to El Salvador to join the staff of the Universidad Centroamericana, administering the university’s School for Religious Education and assisted in schools for pastoral formation sponsored by the UCA.

Fr. Brackley passed away on Sunday after battling both liver and pancreatic cancer.

“Dean Brackley was an extraordinary Jesuit. His 20+ years of service in El Salvador included pastoral work in numerous parishes, meeting with delegations visiting El Salvador, immersion trips, but at all times, he promoted Gospel values from the perspective of the poor.  His 2004 book The Call to Discernment in Troubled Times is a powerful expression of God’s providential love for the poor expressed in the Ignatian vision. Dean will be deeply missed by the people of El Salvador, students and faculty of the UCA, and the countless compañeros he met along the way,” said Jesuit Father Thomas H. Smolich, President of the Jesuit Conference of the United States.

A few weeks before his passing, Brackley was honored by Marquette University with a Doctorate of Religious Studies, and by the University of San Francisco which established a scholarship in his name:

WHEREAS, University of San Francisco Trustee J. Dean Brackley, S.J., quietly, immediately and heroically volunteered to replace one of the murdered Jesuits from the University of Central America in San Salvador after the 1989 massacre of six university Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter; and

WHEREAS, Dean Brackley, S.J., ever since his entrance to the Society of Jesus in 1964 has displayed an uncommon commitment to the social and human implications of the Gospel; and

WHEREAS, Dean Brackley, S.J., has ever and always balanced his demanding academic and administrative responsibilities with pastoral care for the poor and marginalized; and

WHEREAS, Dean Brackley, S.J., has hosted numerous delegations to El Salvador, including groups from the University of San Francisco; and

WHEREAS, Dean Brackley, S.J., has faithfully and generously served as a trustee of the University of San Francisco for nine years;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the University of San Francisco establish a scholarship to honor Trustee J. Dean Brackley, S.J.; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this scholarship be awarded to a Latino/a student of high academic promise and significant financial need;

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that this scholarship student be designated the Dean Brackley, S.J. Scholar during his/her matriculation at the University of San Francisco.

Fr. Brackley entered the Society of Jesus in 1964 and was ordained a priest in 1976.  He earned a doctoral degree in Religious Social Ethics from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 1980, and traveled a vocational path marked by spiritual creativity, moral courage, and an unfailing companionship with the poor.

On Nov. 16, 1989, six Jesuits, along with a housekeeper and her daughter, were killed by members of the El Salvadoran military at the University of Central America Pastoral Center in San Salvador. Killed in the attack were Ignacio Ellacuria, S.J., 59; Amando Lopez, S.J., 53; Joaquin Lopez y Lopez, S.J., 71; Ignacio Martín-Baró, S.J., 50; Juan Ramon Moreno, S.J., 56; Segundo Montes, S.J., 56; Julia Elba Ramos, 42, the housekeeper of the Jesuit residence, and her daughter Cecilia Ramos, 15.

The Jesuits had been labeled subversives by the Salvadoran government for speaking out against its oppressive socioeconomic structure.  The clothing of the six Jesuit priests killed (photo above) are exhibited at the museum of the Central American University in San Salvador.

For more photos, visit our Flickr page.

To mark the 20th anniversary of their murders, the U.S. House of Representatives passed House Resolution 761, “Remembering and commemorating the lives and work of (the Jesuit Fathers, their housekeeper and her daughter) on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of their deaths at the University of Central America Jose Simeon Canas in San Salvador, El Salvador.” The resolution was sponsored by Rep. James McGovern (D) of Massachusetts.

Killed in the attack were Ignacio Ellacuria, S.J., 59; Amando Lopez, S.J., 53; Joaquin Lopez y Lopez, S.J., 71; Ignacio Martín-Baró, S.J., 50; Juan Ramon Moreno, S.J., 56; Segundo Montes, S.J., 56; Julia Elba Ramos, 42, the housekeeper of the Jesuit residence, and her daughter Cecilia Ramos, 15.

In remembrance of those who lost their lives, various Jesuit apostolates, including colleges, universities and parishes, are commemorating November 16th, 2009 with memorials, Masses and religious services. A list of institutions participating appear below with events listed if available. Please check back regularly as this list is ever growing.

Xavier University:
http://www.xavier.edu/news/Xavier-commemorates-the-20th-anniversary-of-six-Jesuit-priests-martyred-in-El-Salvador.cfm

• Saturday, Nov. 14, at 7:00 p.m. in Bellarmine Chapel: A live feed from El Salvador allowing viewers to see the procession and vigil in San Salvador in remembrance of the Jesuit martyrs.
• Sunday, Nov. 15, at 4:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.: Student Masses in Bellarmine Chape with Mass petitions for the Jesuit martyrs in El Salvador.
• Monday, Nov. 16, from 1:15 p.m.-3:30 p.m. on Xavier’s Academic Mall: Human display of martyred Jesuits.
• Monday, Nov. 16, at 8:00 p.m. in Room 330 of the Gallagher Student Center: Showing of the film “Question of Conscience” to learn more about the six Jesuits and what they died for.
• Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 7:30 p.m. in Kelley Auditorium in Xavier’s Alter Hall: Brian Derouen discusses his act of civil disobedience crossing the line at the School of the Americas and how it has affected his life.
• Thursday, Nov. 19, at 8:30 p.m. in Bellarmine Chapel: Solemn procession and reflective vigil. Those traveling to Georgia for the annual School of the America’s protest from Nov. 20-Nov. 22 are meeting at Xavier’s Brueggeman Center and processing to Bellarmine Chapel in remembrance and to reflect on their role in this struggle.

Fordham University:
http://www.fordham.edu/Campus_Resources/eNewsroom/topstories_1711.asp

University of San Francisco:
http://www.usfca.edu/usfnews/news_stories/Stand4Conference.html

The Stand 4 Conference, with events scheduled from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., will provide a forum to discuss issues of justice, workshops, and a candlelight vigil on Monday, November 16, 2009.
•    9 a.m. – A Reflection on Ignatian Spirituality, Jesuit education, and the martyrs of UCA. (Maraschi Room, Fromm Hall)
•    10:30 a.m. – Mass of Commemoration by Fr. Privett (St. Ignatius Church)
•    12:30 p.m. – Keynote speaker Kevin Burke, S.J., academic dean and acting president of the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, and author of The Ground Beneath the Cross: The Theology of Ignacio Ellacuria. (St. Ignatius Church)
•    1:45 p.m. – Workshops: A series of workshops on lobbying, advocacy, civil rights, and litigation presented by the Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good, the Central American Resource Center, and the Center for Justice and Accountability. (McLaren Complex)
•    6:00 p.m. – Candlelight Vigil: Procession from St. Ignatius Church to Lone Mountain.

Creighton University:
http://www.creighton.edu/publicrelations/newscenter/news/2009/november2009/november122009/martyrsnr111209/index.php

On Monday, Nov. 16, Creighton University, along with Jesuits and the world-wide Catholic community,will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the assassination of six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter in El Salvador. A special 5 p.m. bilingual Mass will be held at St. John’s Church on Creighton’s campus.
On Saturday, Nov. 14, at 4 p.m., students will construct a Martyrs Memorial on the church steps that will include visual displays honoring the victims and their commitment to faith. The memorial will be available for viewing over the weekend through Monday, Nov. 16.

Boston College:
http://www.bc.edu/offices/pubaf/news/Jesuit_Murders_Anniversary20091028.html

Wednesday, Nov. 4, 7 p.m., Gasson 100: Boston College Chancellor J. Donald Monan, SJ will moderate a program titled “Living Legacies: the 20th Anniversary of the Martyrs of El Salvador.” The panel will include Rodolfo Cardenal, SJ, former vice rector at the University of Central America who lived with the six Jesuits; Elizabeth Lira, a faculty member and director of the Centro de Etica at Universidad Alberto Hurtado in Santiago, Chile; and US Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.), who as an aide to the late US Rep. Joseph Moakley (D-Mass.) was instrumental in reshaping American policy toward the nation where the murders occurred.

Monday, Nov. 30, 4:30 p.m., Robsham Theater: Fr. Monan will moderate a discussion with historian Noam Chomsky and University of Central America co-founder Jon Sobrino, SJ — who was away from the Jesuit residence the night of the murders — titled “Memory and Its Strength: The Martyrs of El Salvador.”

Loyola New Orleans:
http://www.loyno.edu/news/story/2009/11/13/1970

•    Martyr’s Mass, Sunday, Nov. 15, 9 p.m., Ignatius Chapel in Bobet Hall.
•    General LUCAP Meeting, Monday, Nov. 16, 5– 6 p.m., Magis Lounge, with torture survivor Carlos Maurico and friends, who will speak about their experiences and the School of the Americas peace vigil caravan, Journey for Justice.
•    “Refugees and Asylum Seekers: Human Rights and Catholic Social Teaching” lecture, Danna Student Center St. Charles Room, 7:30 p.m., with Katrine Camilleri, Ph.D., assistant director, Jesuit Refugee Services, Malta.
•    “Romero” film screening, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 7 p.m., Magis Lounge.
•    Prayer Service for Peace, Thursday, Nov. 19, 5:30 p.m., Peace Quad.

Holy Cross:
http://www.holycross.edu/publicaffairs/features/2009-2010/el_salvador_anniversary

“Twenty Years Later: A Reflection on Holy Cross in Light of the University of Central America Martyrs” on Monday, Nov. 16 at 7:30 p.m. in Rehm Library.

Seattle University:
http://seattleu.edu/events/detail.asp?sID=26800

The greater Seattle University community, including alumni, students, faculty, staff and the public, is invited to this event to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the tragic murders of six Jesuit priests and two women at the University of Central America in El Salvador. Please be sure to join us in this very special commemorative event.�
When: Monday, November 16, 2009  (7 PM – 9 PM)
Where: Student Center
(LeRoux Room and Chapel of St. Ignatius)

University of Scranton:
http://matrix.scranton.edu/news/elsalvador/index.shtml
Banners commemorate Jesuit Martyrs: http://matrix.scranton.edu/news/articles/2009/11/Banners-Commemorate-Jesuit-Martyrs.shtml

Spring Hill College:
http://www.shc.edu/news-and-events/news/2009/november-2009/spring-hill-college-to-commemorate-20th-anniversary-of-jesuit-martyrs

Rev. Ted Arroyo, S.J., rector of the Jesuit community, will present “Reflections on the Martyrs of El Salvador” at a Table Talk luncheon on Wednesday, Nov. 11.
The student liturgy at 9 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15 will remember the 20th anniversary of the Jesuit martyrs. The Mass will commission students, faculty and staff to participate in the Ignatian Family Teach-In in Columbus, Ga., Nov. 20-22.

LeMoyne College:
http://www.lemoyne.edu/JESUITHERITAGE/tabid/482/Default.aspx

Grewen Hall at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York
Monday November 16 2009, 5-6 p.m.
 All are welcome at a candle vigil at dusk and brief ceremony to be held in solidarity with the Society of Jesus and the UCA-JSC, as we mark the 20th anniversary of the massacre in El Salvador and commemorate all who give their lives in the long struggle for justice. 

Gesu Parish Detroit:
(in partnership with their SHARE Sister Community) will be have a commemoration of the 20th anniversary on November 16th at 7:00pm;  A recollection will be offered by Bishop Tom Gumbleton.

The House today passed House Resolution 761, which stated, in part:

“Remembering and commemorating the lives and work of Jesuit Fathers Ignacio Ellacuria, Ignacio Martin-Baro, Segundo Montes, Amando Lopez, Juan Ramon Moreno, Joaquin Lopez y Lopez, and housekeeper Julia Elba Ramos and her daughter Celina Mariset Ramos on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of their deaths at the University of Central America Jose Simeon Canas located in San Salvador, El Salvador on November 16, 1989.”

During the bloody civil war of El Salvador in the 1980s, in the early morning hours of November 16, the six Jesuit priests and their housekeeper along with her daughter were executed by soldiers. Many Jesuit institutions around the country will mark the 20th anniversary of the murders with lectures, vigils and screenings of documentaries about the killings and the struggle for justice.

“The witness of these martyrs continues to inspire us today, these many years later,” said John Kleiderer, acting secretary of social and international ministries at the Jesuit Conference of the U.S. “They were unwavering in their defense of the poor and oppressed. We honor their memories and their legacy of work on behalf of justice and peace. We are grateful to the members of Congress for remembering and honoring them today.”

The U.S. House of Representatives debated and approved, on the suspension calendar, a resolution remembering and commemorating the lives and work of six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter on the upcoming 20th anniversary of their deaths in El Salvador. The resolution was sponsored by Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA), who led the Congressional investigation into the assassinations when he was a senior aide to then-Rep. John Joseph Moakley (D-MA).

The House today passed House Resolution 761, which stated, in part:

“Remembering and commemorating the lives and work of Jesuit Fathers Ignacio Ellacuria, Ignacio Martin-Baro, Segundo Montes, Amando Lopez, Juan Ramon Moreno, Joaquin Lopez y Lopez, and housekeeper Julia Elba Ramos and her daughter Celina Mariset Ramos on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of their deaths at the University of Central America Jose Simeon Canas located in San Salvador, El Salvador on November 16, 1989.”

During the bloody civil war of El Salvador in the 1980s, in the early morning hours of November 16, the six Jesuit priests and their housekeeper along with her daughter were executed by soldiers. Many Jesuit institutions around the country will mark the 20th anniversary of the murders with lectures, vigils and screenings of documentaries about the killings and the struggle for justice.

“The witness of these martyrs continues to inspire us today, these many years later,” said John Kleiderer, acting secretary of social and international ministries at the Jesuit Conference of the U.S. “They were unwavering in their defense of the poor and oppressed. We honor their memories and their legacy of work on behalf of justice and peace. We are grateful to the members of Congress for remembering and honoring them today.”