Jesuit Journeys
Fall 2005
Faith and Justice:
Honoring The Martyrs, The Ignatian Family Teach-In and the Ignatian Solidarity Network
By Rochelle Lucero
 One of the speakers at the Ignatian Teach-In
posed the insightful question, “Why do we kill
people to show that killing people is wrong?”
That question still tugs at my heart. How can we quietly
live our comfortable lives when so many human beings
are suffering from hunger, homelessness, insecurity, and
injustice in this world? How can we not speak up?
While it is important to spend time daily in conversation
with God, it is also vital to actively and
concretely live out and share that faith,
which is nourished in our prayer lives.
Christ calls us to reach out to the least
of our brothers and sisters. Whenever
we serve the poor and the oppressed,
we are truly serving Jesus. He asks us to
bring peace and justice to this world, to
be a voice for the voiceless.
Why did I take this third journey to
the 2004 Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice and to protest
at the gates of Fort Benning? I went for Priscilio Claros, a
7-year-old boy from El Salvador, whose name was written on
my white cross; for the six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper,
and her daughter who were killed at their university
residence; for the many other religious and lay people killed
over the years in Central America for their work with the
poor; and for the thousands of others who were tortured and
killed in acts of injustice, not only in Central America, but
around the world.
For it is in remembering the dead that we bring them back
to life. Presente. Rochelle Lucero is a 2004 graduate of Wheeling
Jesuit University with a BS in nursing. A former Jesuit
Volunteer Corps Midwest member, currently she is an
oncology nurse at a Chicago hospital.
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