This year’s annual Jesuit Heritage Month includes an event honoring the 30th anniversary of the murders of six Jesuits and two associated lay people at the University of Central America in El Salvador as well as weekly prayer services and lectures to promote Jesuit values among students, faculty and staff.

The annual Jesuit Heritage Month will run programming on campus throughout the month of November. The keynote event, “Remembering the Jesuit Martyrs 30 Years Later: A Conversation with Congressman Jim McGovern and Fr. Matt Carnes, S.J.,” was hosted Nov. 6 by Carnes, the director of the Center for Latin American Studies, and McGovern (D-Mass.). McGovern was involved in the Congressional Moakley Commision, a special Congressional panel led by Joe Moakley (D- Mass.), which investigated the deaths in El Salvador in 1989.

The Congressional Moakley Commision found the Jesuit murders were committed by the American-backed Salvadoran military, according to the event’s description. The event reflected the University of Central America Jesuits’ commitment to standing up to the Salvadoran military and featured discussion on Georgetown University’s role in bringing attention to human rights issues in El Salvador, according to Carnes.

“The commitment of the Jesuits at the University of Central America to challenge the oppression and violence of the regime, and to work for peace and justice, continues to inspire us today,” Carnes wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Georgetown played an integral role in raising awareness about the atrocities committed in El Salvador.”

Jesuits in El Salvador were advocates for a negotiated settlement between the Salvadoran government and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, a guerilla group that opposed the government during the Salvadoran Civil War, according to a UN Truth Commission report. The Salvadoran military considered the Jesuits at the University of Central America as being allied and supportive of FMNL operations, and that affiliation with the FMNL rebels made them a target of the Salvadoran military, according to the report.

McGovern worked with Fr. Charlie Currie, S.J., who led the Georgetown response that brought awareness to the murders, during the time of the investigation.

This event aligned with the month’s goal of highlighting Jesuit and Ignatian values in daily life and work, according to Director of Ignatian Programs Rev. Jerry Hayes, S.J.

“The theme of remembering the martyrs and their legacy is threaded through many of our events this month, and we hope that members of our community who attend them will deepen their understanding of how our Jesuit and Ignatian values can animate one’s life and one’s work,” Hayes wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Jesuit Heritage Month will also include an installment of the Faith and Culture Lecture Series, featuring professor of English Carolyn Forché in an event titled “What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance” on Nov. 18. A Dahlgren Chapel Sacred Lecture titled “Ignatius and Companions: Their Quiet Revolutions” and led by Rev. John O’Malley, S.J., will occur Nov. 20.

As well as larger lectures and events, multiple smaller events will take place. Weekly Examens, a fundamental prayer of St. Ignatius, will occur on each Wednesday of Jesuit Heritage Month in Dahlgren Chapel, according to Hayes.

“Each week we are hosting an Examen, which is the foundational prayer of St. Ignatius (founder of the Jesuits) and his spiritual practice, in order to give members of the community time to reflect–an essential component of our values here at Georgetown as contemplatives in action,” Hayes wrote.

Jesuit Heritage Month programming provides the Georgetown community the opportunity to dig deeper into Jesuit history and reflect on the role of Ignatian values in daily life, University President John J. DeGioia (CAS ’79, GRD ’95) wrote in a campuswide email.

“These events, among others, are hosted in collaboration with faculty, student groups, and departments across our campus and provide an opportunity for our community to engage with our Ignatian heritage, reflect deeply on the commitments and values that animate the mission of our University,” DeGioia wrote.