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ROSES IN DECEMBER MUSEUM 

Roses in December 40th Anniversary Celebration 2020 marks the 40th anniversary of the martyrdom of four U.S. women religious. On December 2, 1980, members of the U.S.-trained-Salvadoran National Guard raped and killed lay worker Jean Donovan, Maryknoll Sisters Ita Ford, MM, and Maura Clarke, MM, and Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, OSU. The women had been accompanying the Salvadoran people displaced by war and poverty. Their witness cost them their lives. Their deaths shook the world and were emblematic of the violence suffered by the Salvadoran people and the power of accompaniment.

The SHARE Foundation in partnership with LCWR has been celebrating the lives of our sisters; we are gathering pictures, art, and testimonies to remember them. We invite you to send us any material you may have on Ita, Maura, Dorothy, and Jean to Jose@share-elsalvador.org or to SHARE 2425 College Ave. Berkeley CA 94704
​
Today, the SHARE Foundation continues their work accompanying the people of El Salvador and Honduras. Help keep alive their spirit through a gift to SHARE’s Ita, Maura, Dorothy, and Jean’s Legacy Fund.
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Sr. Maura Clarke

​Sr. Maura John Clarke was born Mary Elizabeth Clarke on Jan. 13, 1931, to Irish immigrants who settled in Queens, New York. She joined the Maryknoll community in 1950. After graduating from Maryknoll Teachers College in 1954, Maura taught in the Bronx for five years. From 1970 to 1976, she served in Managua, where she accompanied the people during the cataclysmic earthquake of 1972 and in the rebuilding afterwards. In 1977, she returned to the U.S. for three years and served on the World Awareness Team before returning to Nicaragua in 1980 and then going to El Salvador. After the death of Sr. Carla Piette in August, she was convinced her role was to stay in El Salvador and help Sr. Ita Ford minister to refugees there. She and Ita were returning from a regional meeting on Dec. 2 when two friends met them at the airport.
By Global Sisters Report
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Sr. Ita Ford 

Sr. Ita Ford was born in Brooklyn, New York, on April 23, 1940. She joined the Maryknoll community in 1961 but left after three years for health reasons. In 1971, she rejoined, and she arrived in Chile in 1973 just before the military coup. She stayed to minister to the people until 1980, when she responded to Archbishop Óscar Romero's call to serve in El Salvador. She arrived shortly after his death on March 24. She and Sr. Carla Piette went to Chalatenango in June to work with the Emergency Refugee Committee. In August, she and Piette were swept into a flash flood; she was spared, but Piette was not. Four months later, she was murdered.
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Sr. Dorothy Kazel 

Sr. Dorothy Kazel was born June 30, 1939, in Cleveland, and joined the Ursuline Sisters there in 1960. She taught for seven years in Cleveland and worked in interracial community programs. In 1974, she joined the Cleveland Diocese's mission team in El Salvador. There she trained catechists and helped form base communities, transported homeless people to refugee centers and distributed Catholic Relief aid. A month before her death she wrote of El Salvador as "a country writhing in pain." Of local religious leaders, she wrote of their "steadfast faith and courage…to continue preaching the Word of the Lord even though it may mean 'laying down your life' in the very REAL sense.".
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Jean Donovan

Jean Donovan, born on April 10, 1953, in Westport, Connecticut, was the youngest of the four murdered churchwomen. She had a master's degree in business administration and a well-paying job for a Cleveland accounting firm when she heard of the El Salvador mission program. She went to La Libertad in July 1979 and became a Caritas coordinator, distributing food for the poor. She was beloved for her sense of humor, and the people dubbed her "St. Jean the Playful." She and Kazel helped to establish an orphanage to care for wounded and orphaned children. She was deeply inspired by Romero, and took a turn guarding his coffin in the days before his funeral. ​

41st Anniversary of Roses in December in El Salvador

Communities, organizations, and parishes commemorated and celebrated the life and living legacy of the four Churchwomen of El Salvador, the Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, Ursuline Dorothy Kazel, and lay missionary Jean Donovan.  The missionaries were martyred 41 years ago on December 2, 1980, in El Salvador for accompanying the poor of El Salvador.  Ita, Maura, Dorothy & Jean, ¡PRESENTES!
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You can also watch the 41st anniversary Mass celebration of the life of the Four Churchwomen of El Salvador performed in Chalatenango and Santiago Nonualco, clicking on the following links.
  • Mass at Santiago Nonualco commemorating the 41 Anniversary of the four Churchwomen of El Salvador
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Monument in the site where the four churchwomen were found.
Virtual Event of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) & SHARE El Salvador Foundation for the lives of Ita, Maura, Dorothy and Jean
Program of the virtual event in memory of
the Four Churchwomen of El Salvador

40th Anniversary Celebration of Roses in December in El Salvador

This December 2, 2020, the SHARE Foundation, communities of Chalatenango, Puerto de La Libertad, and different places together
​with the church joined to honor the memory of the four sisters who were murdered in 1980. 

On the 40th anniversary of their martyrdom, we remember them with great affection and admiration for their dedication, love, and sacrifice in support of the most vulnerable.
CCR, SHARE, scholarship students and communities of Chalatenango commemorated the 40th Anniversary of the four churchwomen of Chalatenango were the Maryknoll Sisters are buried.
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Their legacy will live forever in our communities!
Procession and Mass in Santiago Nonualco to commemorate 40th Anniversary of the lives of Ita, Maura, Dorothy, Jean and all the martyrs!

We Remember Ita, Maura, Dorothy and Jean by Supporting
Women Projects in El Salvador and Honduras

LCWR and SHARE Foundation invite individuals, sister parishes, educational institutions, faith communities, women religious to celebrate the gift of these four women and remember all of those who dedicated their lives to working for justice in El Salvador and throughout the world. The anniversary is an opportunity to offer their story to a new generation hungry for a share of their love, selflessness and courage.
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​To find the Roses in December Toolkit  
Read More...
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Marking the 40th Anniversary of the martyrdom of Jean, Ita, Maura, & Dorothy

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Gathering to Share Video and Photo Highlights from
​the 40 Commemorative Events from El Salvador to the USA​
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List of celebrations for the 40th Anniversary of Roses in December

Prayer Service of Sisters Servants of
​the Immaculate heart of Mary - Scranton, PA

A live Streamed by the Conference of
​Religious Remembering Women
​Martyrs of El Salvador

Evening Praise
St. Catherine of Siena Convent
​and Healthcare Center - Caldwell, NJ

Sisters of Servants of the Immaculate heart of Mary share their slides for the prayer service in honor to the Anniversary of the martyrdom of the four Churchwomen of El Salvador. The service will be live streamed so there will be voices and music. 
Advent Evening of Prayer 
Slides for the Advent Evening of Prayer

Querida Amiga 
A la memoria de Ita, Jean, Maura y Dorothy 
-Mario Bencastro -

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Cuento sobre las misioneras “Querida amiga” adjunto.
 

​Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi

Prayer remembering and honoring Ita, Maura, Dorothy and Jean and recommitting ourselves to work for justice and hope in the world. ​

Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange 

As we remember the martyred Churchwomen in El Salvador on the 40th anniversary of their murders, Sister Storylab has a conversation with Sister Elena Jaramillo, who served for decades in the Central American nation. Listen to Sister Elena share glimpses of her experiences of being called there and accompanying the people in El Salvador. 
​
​Click here to listen 
https://fb.watch/27K7av-lcc/
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Maura, Ita, Dorothy and Jean:
We Will Remember You 

Sisters of St. Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston remember the Churchwomen Martyred in El Salvador 40 years ago today.  
Service on December 2 to honor the churchwomen martyrs.
​Prayer from Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston
Sister Joanne Gallagher has written an article to remember the churchwomen martyrs of El Salvador 
What is the US churchwomen martyrs' message for us today?

Roses in December
Maryknoll Sisters

​December 2nd, 2020 marks the 𝟒𝟎𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲𝐫𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐥 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐫 (𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐥 𝐒𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬) 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟕𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐜𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐫.

Learn more about the lives of Sister Ita and Sister Maura
at Martyrdom in El Salvador​​
​

Called by the energy of the four churchwomen: we too respond! 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞? 𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐞, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝.

Prayer Gathering for December 5, 2020

Post on Facebook Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic, Inc.

40th Anniversary Roses in December
Sisters of Saint Joseph of Rochester

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December 2, marks the 40th anniversary of the four churchwomen martyred in El Salvador on December 2, 1980.
​
We join with
SHARE El Salvador Foundation and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in marking this anniversary. Several of our Sisters have had the opportunity to visit El Salvador over the years and have been involved in keeping the work and memory of these strong women alive.

Sisters Kathy Weider, Donna Del Santo, Elaine Hollis, and Phyllis Tierney share their experiences in the most recent issue of our “Just Us” newsletter.

El Salvador Martyrs Memorial Service
​Ursuline Sisters of Lousville

Roses in December
​Hayes Live Stream

40 Seconds of Silence for the 40th Anniversary ​of the Four Churchwomen 
​Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School 

40th Anniversary 
The Archbishop Romero Trust

Sr. Dorothy Kazel Remembrance
​Beaumont School

In December 2020, the lives and witness of four missionaries martyred in El Salvador forty years ago were remembered throughout the world. 

From Rome to New York, and from London to the Diocese of Chalatenango (image right, Rhina Guidos) - where the missionaries lived, served and died, services were held to remember Ita Ford, Dorothy Kazel, Maura Clarke and Jean Donovan.
​
Continue reading at the Archbishop Romero Trust
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​"I want to be remembered as an Alleluia from head to foot"
 
​- 
Sr. Dorothy Kazel, O.S.U. 1939-1980

35th Anniversary of the Martyrdom 
of Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, Dorothy Kazel, and Jean Donovan 

Remembering our sisters, carrying their legacy forward -
​November 28 - December 5, 2015
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In 2015 a group of around 120 people in a delegation of SHARE Foundation commemorated in El Salvador the 35th Anniversary of the Four Churchwomen . 

2015 Commemoration Guide


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SHARE El Salvador
2425 College Ave,
Berkeley, CA 94704

Mission
SHARE strengthens solidarity with and among the Salvadoran people in El Salvador and the United States in the struggle for economic sustainability, justice, and human and civil rights.
Vision
To transform society, SHARE increases the capacity of organized communities and their partners through our model of mutual accompaniment.

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  • Home
  • About Us
    • Mission
    • Our Model
    • History >
      • Going Home Campaign
      • Land Transfer Program
      • Seeds of Hope
      • Women’s Literacy Campaign
      • Sister Parish Program
    • Supporters
    • Staff and Board
    • Contact Us
    • Annual Reports
  • Our work
    • Scholarship Program
    • Advocacy
    • Roses in December
    • Grassroots Partnerships
  • Campaigns
    • El Salvador >
      • Women Sowing Seeds of Hope
      • Cancer Prevention
  • Delegations
    • Major Delegations
    • Sistering Delegations
    • Youth Delegations
    • Tours >
      • U.S. National Tour: Spring 2018
    • Theological Seminars
  • Blog
  • Donate