Why we return to Fort Benning

Unfortunately, I will not be able to go to Fort Benning this November, due to a local event.  But I will be there in spirit.  Here is a message from Father Roy:

This November 19-21, we return to Fort Benning because we must.  The martyrs demand it.

Twenty-six years ago, the graduates of the School of Assassins killed my good friend Maura and the other three Church women in El Salvador. It has been 20 years since 14-year-old Celina, her mother Elba and the six Jesuits were killed by SOA grads. It's been five years since it was revealed that instructors at the school worked with the paramilitaries in Colombia. One year has passed since SOA graduates overthrew democracy in Honduras.

The school is still open and the violence continues.

There has been no accountability. The martyrs made the ultimate sacrifice for their resistance. We will not forget the goals they fought for. We must return to Fort Benning to remember them and to recommit ourselves to those same goals. We must return to Fort Benning until this school is closed once and for all. Justice will prevail!

See you at the gates,


Father Roy Bourgeois, M.M.