To some Jesuits, it feels like it happened yesterday.

Six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter were removed from their homes, forced to kneel on the ground and then shot in the back of the head. The United States-backed El Salvador Military killed the eight victims on Nov. 16, 1989.

“When the Jesuits of El Salvador started speaking on behalf of the people that were their parishioners, the government was upset and said they were going to kill them,” said the Rev. Bert Thelen, S.J., who has protested at the School of the Americas which is now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation or WHINSEC, where the members of the killing squad were all trained.

“They dragged them out and gave them one shot to the back of the head. That’s assassination!” said the Rev. Roc O’Connor, S.J., who also protests the School of the Americas at Ft. Benning, GA. “They sent a message: don’t think about this. Then just they blew their brains out.”

John Giuliano was hiding in the woods when the assassination took place. He was scheduled to tell his story at 7:30 p.m. on Thurs., Sept. 17 in Rigge Science Lecture Hall 120.

Giuliano was a Jesuit scholastic, but decided not to take the vows and instead devoted himself to furthering the cause of the people of El Salvador.

Giuliano traveled to El Salvador with the Jesuit Refugee Services in 1984. He decided to return in 1992, after the peace accords were made.

Ever since, he has directed the Tamarindo Foundation youth community toward lives of faith, peace and education as a healing process in the aftermath of war. His organization is not only found in El Salvador, but his very own team also works out of Indiana.

“He’s been there right from the start,” Thelen said. “He sees himself as protector of the youth and of their future. A lot of them never got the chance to get a good education.”

The legacy of the eight martyrs has also done a lot of good for people, O’Connor said.

“That event was so newsworthy around the world that international pressure was brought to bear to stop the war in El Salvador,” O’Connor said.

“It’s a tragedy that international attention was called only after Jesuits were killed,” Thelen said. He had two friends, the Rev. John Cortina, S.J., and the Rev. John Sobrino, S.J., in El Salvador when the government started issuing threats against the Jesuits.

“I called [Sobrino] and said ‘What if they’re not bluffing?’ He said to me, ‘We’re not leaving. Even if it’s not a bluff, we’re not leaving. We’re here to help the people.’ My two friends survived though,” Thelen said. “Others weren’t so lucky.”

The legacy of the six Jesuits murdered still lives on after two decades. Pilgrimages to El Salvador are becoming more common. Faithful believers go to the sites in which the martyrs were killed and pay their respects.

“These are considered sacred sites where people died for their faith,” said Thelen who has been to the memorial in El Salvador.

“It’s sort of a recovery of the spirit of Christianity right after the resurrection for people who were persecuted and all they had was their faith.”

The martyrs have been dead for 20 years, but hope still remains that there is a lesson to be learned from their sacrifice.

O’Connor said the memory gives a sense of connectedness, identity and direction.

“It helps us remember how connected to other people in the world.

“All these distractions can be riveting, and it’s good to remember that these people out there suffering are part of our experience,” he said.

Giuliano spoke to a group of students in Java Jay on Wednesday.

“Life is not about what you get, it’s about what you give,” he said. “It’s about what you bring to the table. It’s all about creating something new.”

Check creightonian.com later this week for a follow-up on Giuliano’s speech.