[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 208 (Wednesday, December 9, 2020)]
[House]
[Page H7095]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1730
                          THE FOUR CHURCHWOMEN

  (Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise this December in reflective 
remembrance and commemoration of the valiant lives of the famed four 
American churchwomen, who were brutally raped and murdered by the El 
Salvadoran military 40 years ago on December 2, 1980.
  Their names were Sisters Dorothy Kazel, Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, and 
Jean Donovan. Their mission, and ultimately their lives, were 
sacrificed to the service of the forgotten and the impoverished in El 
Salvador. These courageous women of faith were hallmarks of their 
community and their mission of accompaniment in the nation amidst 
turmoil.
  Mr. Speaker, 40 years ago, in the midst of a civil war, the U.S. 
Government funded and supported the El Salvadoran military that on 
December 2, 1980, murdered these evangelical saints. In their 
protection and companionship of refugee families, they were targeted as 
enemies of national interest in the country. These four women were 
nothing less than lionhearts of political and social righteousness that 
respected all people.
  Mr. Speaker, in recognizing their legacy, I ask for a moment of 
silence as we recall, each time we mourn their names, the loss of these 
four saints.

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