From October 26-28, 2024, Saint Ursula Academy students joined more than 1,700 individuals who will gather for the 27th annual Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice in Washington, D.C.

 

Initiated in 1997, the Teach-In commences yearly to commemorate the lives of the Jesuit martyrs of El Salvador. The six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her teenage daughter were murdered on November 16, 1989, for speaking out against the country’s tumultuous civil war. Through work with the poor and marginalized, the Catholic Church and its leaders, including the Jesuits and Saint Óscar Romero, sought to address the long history of inequality and injustice in the country. 

 

The Teach-In connects Catholic faith and justice by addressing timely issues through two days of dynamic speakers, breakout sessions, and networking opportunities. As the largest annual Catholic social justice gathering in the U.S., the gathering attracts attendees from nearly 120 Jesuit and other Catholic universities, high schools, parishes, and organizations in the U.S. and El Salvador. While all ages are represented at the event, the majority of attendees are ages 16-22.

 

Saint Ursula students attending this year were Katherine Bender, Maya Chandler, Abigail Collins, Mia Cowles, Molly Eppstein, Isabelle Fisher, Isabella Duke-Ibanez, Geraldina Jeronimo, Olivia Mobarry, Gabrielle Plummer, Camille Roman, and Andrea Tiu.

 

Their adult chaperones were SUA faculty and staff members Tiffany Berry, Joanne Elsbrock and Rachel Kemper

 

The keynote speakers over the weekend included Fr. Bryan Massingale, a social justice scholar and professor of theology and ethics at Fordham University; Ruben Garcia, executive director of Annunciation House in El Paso, Texas; and Sister Peggy O’Neill, S.C., director of Centro de Arte Para la Paz in El Salvador. Additional breakout panelists and presenters included Chris Crawford, policy strategist at Protect Democracy; Shujaa Graham, a death row exoneree and peer organizer with Witness to Innocence; and Shannon Evans, editor for National Catholic Reporter and author of The Mystics Would Like A Word. A lineup of breakout presenters also covered topics including racial justice, civil dialogue, living synodality, labor and worker rights, restorative justice, economic justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion, climate justice, criminal justice reform, and more.

 

In addition to the plentiful opportunities to learn and listen, a vigil of remembrance was held on Saturday night, October 26, for the 35th anniversary of the Jesuit martyrs of El Salvador. The weekend concluded with a closing Mass, welcoming  Fr. Adam DeLeon, S.J., director of mission at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory, as presider. Participants gathered a final time on Monday, October 28 in front of the U.S. Capitol building for a public witness and rally before delegations transitioned to IFTJ Advocacy Day meetings with their respective representatives.

 

The 2024 theme, Steadfast Hope in Precarious Times, acknowledges the sinful realities such as war, violence, hatred, environmental destruction, and polarization that mar our world while leaning into the countercultural hope that comes from steadfastly rooting ourselves in a God of resurrection. Exhorted by Pope Francis's words and edified by the witnesses of those who work for peace and justice, participants will “combat a deficit of hope that stifles dreams” to participate in building a more just world.