Thirty Years Later: Remembering the U.S. Churchwomen in El Salvador and the United States

Abstract:On December 2, 1980, Salvadoran National Guardsmen—armed by the U.S. government—raped and murdered four U.S. missionaries: Maryknoll Sisters Ita Ford and Maura Clarke, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, and Maryknoll lay missioner Jean Donovan. Thirty years later, in late 2010, I traveled to El Salvador as part of a delegation to commemorate the anniversary of their deaths. Returning to the United States in early 2011, I attended a memorial for them in Washington, D.C., and expected to see continuity with the past: the promotion of the missionaries as a source of inspiration and expressions of anger at the U.S. role in El Salvador. The women continued to inspire, but the focus on the U.S. government was nearly absent. Instead, commemorative events in El Salvador evoked disappointment with the institutional Catholic Church, and the Washington, D.C., remembrance stressed Maryknoll Sisters' political influence. These differences underscored that remembering the U.S. churchwomen was not just about one memory, but different kinds of memories for different communities.