UPDATES DURING THE SOA WEEKEND:
- Click here to see Rev. Jim Barnett’s remarks from our Friday evening program
- Click here to see Scott Wright’s remarks, “Enduring Hope,” from our Friday evening program
- Click here to read the report from the Sisters of Mercy, including some comments from Nelly del Cid, one of our Friday night speakers
- Click here to see the printed program used for this year’s Friday evening event, “Enduring Hope: 500 Years of Prophetic Resistance to Military Empire”
- Click here to see photos from our Friday evening event, “Enduring Hope: 500 Years of Prophetic Resistance to Military Empire”
- Click here to read a short report and see a slideshow of our Friday evening event, “Enduring Hope: 500 Years of Prophetic Resistance to Military Empire”
- Click here to see photos from Saturday and Sunday
Each year, Pax Christi USA members and friends gather on Friday night prior to the annual School of the Americas Vigil and Action in Columbus, GA. Our program this year will include prayer, music, inspiring speakers and more. The program is open to the general public and all are invited to attend. Information on this year’s gathering is below.
Pax Christi USA at the SOA
Enduring Hope: 500 Years of
Prophetic Resistance to Military Empire
WHEN: Friday evening, November 18, 2011, from 6-8pm
WHERE: The Sycamore Room at the Columbus Convention Center, 801 Front Avenue, Columbus, Georgia
WHO: Our speakers include…
- Nelly de la Cid, Honduran activist and Mercy Associate
- Fr. Jim Barnett, OP, one of the original 13 fasters at the gates of the SOA in 1990
- Scott Wright, Pax Christi USA National Council member and author of Oscar Romero and the Communion of Saints
- Jean Stokan, Director of the Justice Team, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas
Our program will begin by focusing on the current repression taking place in Honduras and the witness of human rights activists on the ground, contextualized for us by Jean Stokan, Director of the Justice Team of Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. Jean will also introduce Nelly de la Cid, a young activist immersed in human rights work in Honduras, who will share her story and more on the situation in Honduras in light of the history of empire in Latin America.
This December, we will mark the 30th anniversary of El Mozote, when the Atlacatl Battalion—trained at the SOA—slaughtered 1,000 people in El Salvador. Author Scott Wright will introduce the second part of our program, lifting up this anniversary in terms of its significance to the movement to close the SOA, the increasing militarization of the continent (and world), and the inspiring witness of Rufina Amaya—the only survivor and witness of this tragedy—and all survivors in El Salvador, Latin America and around the world who call us to action and offer us hope.
Fr. Jim Barnett, OP will be our final speaker, addressing the 500th anniversary of the first prophetic protest against the conquest of Latin America, when Antonio Montesinos, a Dominican friar, raised his voice against the Spanish conquistadors on the island of Hispanola in 1511, with the challenge: “By what right” do you do carry out such violence against the native peoples? “Are they not human beings?” Montesinos finished by reminding them that they were “in mortal sin” for their violence. One of the conquistadors listening to him was a young man, Bartolome de las Casas, who later became a Dominican and the great defender of the Indians.
Also…
Special gathering for Pax Christi USA regional and local leadership: On Saturday morning, November 19th, Jack McHale of the Pax Christi USA National Council will host an open session for Pax Christi leaders who are attending the SOA weekend. The exact time and place will be announced at the Friday evening gathering.
And click here for the SOA Watch-Pax Christi USA joint press release.
