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Ursuline nun arrested again during protest
(by Sali McSherry - November 26, 2008)
Ursuline nun arrested again during protest
By SALI McSHERRY
Ursuline Sister Diane Therese Pinchot said Monday she wants justice served for the 1980 rape and murder of Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel and her colleagues, who were ministering in El Salvador.
Sister Pinchot, 63, a member of the congregation at the Ursuline Educational Center in Pepper Pike, was among six people who were arrested and charged Sunday with trespassing on the grounds of a military facility.
For the past 13 years, Sister Pinchot and others have peacefully protested just outside the grounds of Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga., to raise awareness of and to protest the U.S. Army School of the Americas, now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, she said.
This was the second time she was arrested. The first resulted in a "ban and bar" order, which prohibited her from entering the property for five years. With the second arrest, she is permanently barred from the property. She was released on bond Sunday.
Three of the Salvadoran National Guardsmen convicted of the 1980 murders were trained at the facility and acted upon the orders of their commanding officers in killing Sister Kazel, lay missioner Jean Donovan and Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, according to Sister Pinchot, who said the commanding officers were never held accountable.
What began with about 100 protesters outside Fort Benning in 1996 has blossomed into 20,000 protesters that continue to meet there on the third week of November. They meet each year to raise public awareness that the military training school "allegedly continues to train soldiers in skills of violence and torture and attendees and graduates have been convicted of some of the worst human rights violations in South and Central America," Sister Pinchot said.
While acting as an individual, her position is consistent with a stance taken by her religious community, the Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland.
Sister Pinchot knew Sister Kazel as a fellow Ursuline sister.
"As Dorothy was preparing to return to El Salvador from Cleveland in the summer of 1980, she was hopeful, full of life and especially full of love for the people of El Salvador," she said. "She loved them unconditionally. This love motivated her to the end and is her legacy and challenge to me -- to speak the truth with steadfast love even in the time of war and oppression."
Sister Pinchot said her act of civil disobedience was a call for full disclosure of information and unpublished documents she believes would shed light on the complete truth regarding the deaths.
She said 35 legislators who did not support a bill to close the school have been replaced in the recent election by people she and others hope will support U.S. Senate Bill 1707, which would close the school for a bipartisan investigation. The plan is to write to the new legislators to encourage their support of legislation that would move toward the school's closure, Sister Pinchot said.
For more information, call the Ursuline Educational Center at (440) 449-1200.
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