From July 24, 2014 to August 1, 2014, Xavier faculty members Kaija DeWitt, Alex Lavy and Chris Napolitano will be among the forty-six U.S. delegates who will travel to El Salvador to mark the 25th anniversary year of the Jesuit Martyrs of El Salvador. Participants will explore the lives of the six Jesuits and two lay women murdered at the Jesuit university (UCA) in San Salvador, El Salvador on November 16, 1989, and examine current human rights issues facing El Salvador. Delegates include other high school teachers and administrators; university faculty, staff, and alumni, and parish priests and parishioners. Collectively the delegates represent twenty-eight Jesuit institutions. The delegation is sponsored by the Ignatian Solidarity Network (ISN), and will be coordinated in-country by Christians for Peace in El Salvador (CRISPAZ), a faith-based organization dedicated to building bridges of solidarity between communities in the U.S. and El Salvador.

Ignacio Ellacuría, S.J., Ignacio Martín-Baró, S.J., Segundo Montes, S.J., Juan Ramón Moreno, S.J., Joaquín López y López, S.J., Amando López, S.J. and their housekeeper Elba Ramos, and her 15 year-old daughter Celina Ramos were murdered by Salvadoran military in response to the UCA’s advocacy on behalf of the economically poor of El Salvador during the country’s 13-year civil war.

“Our time in El Salvador will serve as an opportunity for our entire network to renew it’s commitment to contemplative work for social justice grounded in faith,” said Christopher Kerr, executive director of the ISN. Kerr continued, “I am so excited for the inspiration and energy the delegates will bring back to their communities across the U.S.”

Delegation participants will meet with a wide array of individuals while in El Salvador including community members, NGO leaders and Jesuits serving in El Salvador. Reflection, opportunities for prayer, and the celebration of the Eucharist will be daily components of the experience, including a closing liturgy on the Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola. During the experience, delegates will seek to develop methods for engaging their local community and the larger Ignatian network through online reflections and the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice, a national social justice conference sponsored by ISN, which will take place in Washington D.C. on November 15-17, 2014.


The Ignatian Solidarity Network (ISN) is a national social justice network inspired by the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola. ISN was founded in 2004 and is a lay-led 501(c)(3) organization working in partnership with Jesuit universities, high schools, and parishes, along with many other Catholic institutions and social justice partners. Xavier’s president, Jack Raslowsky, serves as a member of the ISN Board of Directors. For more information about the Ignatian Solidarity Network, or to support the work of ISN, please visit ignatiansolidarity.net.