Jesuit Journeys
Fall 2005

By Fr. Charles L. Currie, SJ

I'll always remember that first phone call from Bob Holstein in spring 1988, one of many this unforgettable former Jesuit with a magnanimous faith, passion for justice, and uncanny ability to bring people together made to discuss his idea for a teachin for justice. Along with his beloved group of fellow former Jesuits (The Companions or Compañeros), Bob envisioned members of the Ignatian family gathering under a tent at Fort Benning, Georgia, site of the School of the Americas (SOA).

After six Jesuits and their coworkers were killed by Salvadoran soldiers, 19 of whom were trained at SOA, Bob was further inspired by Fr. Roy Bourgeois, MM, founder of an organization that now sponsors an annual protest on the anniversary of the deaths. No one could ever refuse Bob. And while he passed away two years ago, I’m happy to report we have been living his dream evermore successfully year by year.

A big white tent, first erected in 1998, symbolizes what has grown to become far more than a simple protest – the annual Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice. Expanding in scope and numbers over time, today the teach-in embraces an even broader version of Bob’s vision to include transforming stories of efforts to combat injustice throughout the world – not only in El Salvador,but in Haiti, Colombia, Bolivia, Iraq, Africa – even here in the U.S.

By calling us together each year, the teach-in helps us respond to the challenge from Fr. General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, SJ to “let the gritty reality of this world into our lives, so we can learn to feel it, think about it critically, respond to its suffering, and engage it constructively” – something the Salvadoran martyrs did so well.

The gatherings are not without critics, and for some are quixotic relics of the activism of the 1960s; for others, they represent an unwise and unpatriotic attack on the military in a time of war; and for still others, they neglect the complexities of the political scene today. The expansion of the teach-in to embrace more global justice issues blunts much of that criticism.

While there are other training sites around the world doing essentially the same thing, the SOA (now renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) continues to be an important focus for a number of reasons. The tragic history of the training center epitomizes what is often wrong with all such sites: an excessive emphasis on simplistic military solutions to complex social issues; ongoing impunity and refusing to admit past wrongs; the justification of torture; and identification with some of the worst violators of human rights in this hemisphere.

Sadly, the largest number of trainees at the center today comes from Colombia, where too many of the tragedies we saw in El Salvador are now being repeated and the poor and powerless again bear the brunt of the struggle. Thus the teach-in is also important to me as an expression of solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Latin America who have suffered at the hands of so many soldiers for so many years.

While our white tent can’t be any larger because trees have been planted to prevent expansion, members of the Ignatian family who have gathered over the years for liturgy each Saturday night of the teach-in weekend (and numbered 4,000 strong in 2004) have become catalysts for something even larger. They helped spawn the Ignatian Solidarity Network, the purpose of which is to facilitate and enhance the effectiveness of existing social justice and advocacy work.

The Ignatian Solidarity Network now organizes the annual teach-in and is helping to realize Bob Holstein’s dream of expanding the tent to embrace more and more people in the pursuit of peace and justice. The network’s mission might best be described by Margaret Swedish and Marie Dennis in their new book, Like Grains of Wheat: The Spirituality of Solidarity.

They write of solidarity communities as having “something positive to offer, a different way of being, a model for overcoming prejudices and historical animosities. It is a model that involves stepping over the chasms of rage and hatred to build relationships with people across those chasms – the historically privileged, educated, and powerful on the one hand and the historically marginalized, oppressed and exploited on the other.”

Indeed, the Ignatian Solidarity Network keeps alive the symbol of the tent as the place where members of the Ignatian family gather to live, to be strengthened, and to celebrate a faith that seeks to do justice.

Fr. Charles L. Currie, SJ is president of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities.

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