Maryknoll nun, community remember churchwomen slain in El Salvador

Published: 2005-10-27

CHICAGO (CNS) -- Every year Maryknoll Sister Lelia "Lil" Mattingly pays special tribute to the four U.S. churchwomen slain Dec. 2, 1980, in El Salvador. Last year, before she was handcuffed and arrested at a protest at the former School of the Americas, Sister Lil planted a wooden cross in tribute to the four women on the grounds of the school in Fort Benning, Ga., that is now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. The institute, established in 2001 as a successor to the 55-year-old School of the Americas, instructs civilian, military and law enforcement leaders from throughout the Western Hemisphere. Sister Lil, who served a six-month prison sentence for trespassing at the school, was released Sept. 12. The Maryknoll nun was a missionary in Bolivia for 20 years and during that time she came in contact with the four churchwomen: Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, lay missioner Jean Donovan and Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, who were kidnapped, raped and murdered 25 years ago by Salvadoran military personnel.

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