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"Sister Dorothy Kazel: * * * * * Thursday 7:30 p.m. Richardson Auditorium Morse-Ingersoll Hall * * * * * Free and open to the public. |
Sister Dorothy Kazel was an Ursuline nun and missionary who served in El Salvador in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She was dedicated to helping the nation’s destitute indigenous people, often at great risk to herself. In December 1980, Kazel was one of four U.S. churchwomen allegedly killed by corrupt government officials. These deaths sparked international outrage and drew increased attention to the plight of poor El Salvadorans. Kazel’s life and experiences will be the focus of a presentation by Beloit College alumna Lorie Smith Gates. “Sister Dorothy Kazel: A Reenactment” will take place on Wednesday, April 9, at 9 p.m., in Eaton Chapel, on the Beloit College campus. Like most events at the college, the presentation is free and open to the public.
A member of the class of 1959, Gates learned about the murder of the churchwomen as she researched the history of the U.S. military combat-training school known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC). Like her husband, Philip Gates, of the Beloit College class of 1958, she believes that the school has trained Central and South American military personnel who have perpetrated human rights violations in many nations. Graduates of the school were implicated in the deaths of Kazel and others.
For several years, Lorie and Philip have campaigned for the closing of WHINSEC by joining peaceful protests on the perimeter of the institute’s campus. In 2005, Lorie encouraged her husband to cross onto the campus grounds in a deliberate act of civil protest. She maintained her active support the following year when he served two months in a federal penitentiary for trespassing.
Philip Gates will discuss his activism in another free campus presentation—“From Colombia, South America, to Columbus, Ga.: Taking Truth to Power”―on Thursday, April 10, at 7:30 p.m., in Richardson Auditorium, in Morse-Ingersoll Hall.
For details about Lorie Gates’ presentation, contact Bill Conover, director of the college’s Spiritual Life Program, at conoverw@beloit.edu. Information about this and other events at Beloit College can be found online at www.beloit.edu.