Code,750009
Subject,Sister Christine Rody
Date,7/30/2016
Interviewer,Naomi A. Randt (formerly Chris Morris)
Abstract,"Christine Rody is a sister in the Vincentian Sisters of Charity order in Cincinnati, Ohio. She served on the Cleveland Latin American Mission team to El Salvador with Sr. Martha Owen and Sr. Dorothy Kazel. In this interview, she discusses her decision to enter the convent and her time in El Salvador. Sr. Christine reflects on the work she helped perform and the impact that work has had on the Salvadoran people. She also describes the situation in El Salvador both before and after the escalation of hostilities between the guerillas and the military junta in the late 1970s, including the murders of the four church women in 1980. Sr. Christine Rody was at the Thanksgiving dinner held at Ambassador Robert White's house the night before Srs. Dorothy, Ita, Maura, and Jean Donovan were killed. She also talks about the reaction and involvement of the Cleveland people in relation to El Salvador and the work of the Cleveland mission team."
Special Notes,"El Salvador, Dorothy Kazel, Jean Donovan, Cleveland Latin American Mission Team"
Minutes:,
0,"Born in Bedford, Ohio in 1942. Childhood. ""went to Salvador to get away from Bedford"""
1,"Siblings. Oldest of five siblings. Three boys, two girls. Parents ""practical Catholic people,"" faith was part of life. Father, crane-operator for Cleveland Stevedore. Mother, housewife. Father, ""had us be aware of the world"""
2,"Experience walking on ships, father ""exposed us to the world scene"" Mother ""interested in anything you could be interested in."" Education. St. Mary's. St. Pius X. Hoban Dominican High School. Motivation for entering convent. "
3,"Told parents, ""I really want to be a sister"" after sophomore year of high school. Finished high school, junior and senior years at Marymount, now Trinity High School. Canonical Novice."
4,"Canonical novice experience. St. John College, Cleveland, Ohio to be a teacher. Cadet-program experience. Bachelor's degree 1966. Taught in Bedford. Religion at Lumen Cordium High School. State-certified in mathematics. John Carroll University."
5,St. John's University in Minnesota Masters degree in Theology 1975. Left for language school summer 1975 in Bolivia. 35 year old age limit to be a missionary. 33 years old in 1975.
6,"Holy Week 1975. ""wasn't focused on being a missionary, focused on students in Lumen Cordium"" wanted to give them a world perspective. Impact of Second Vatican Council."
7,"World sense. Pen pal from India. ""if these girls knew someone in another country, at least these girls would be interested in that country."" Missionary commitment; three years, with option for two more years. Arranged vacations during school time to make rounds in schools about El Salvador."
8,"Gave students sense of mission in El Salvador. Underlying motivation to be a sister: ""I wanted to help people"" truly not interested in marriage in high school. Marriage ""was too confining"" ""extremely focused on a very nugget kind of situation"""
9,"Fascination with foreign languages. Latin in high school. Childhood: ""Vision"" was bigger than what was available for women in the 1950s."
10,"""I wanted a bigger scene,"" reason for entering convent. Parents, ""always supportive"" of her decision. Mother had thought of becoming a sister. ""Her two daughters did."""
11,"Cleveland connection to El Salvador. 1960s, Pope called for help in South America. Cleveland Diocese commitment to that message. Bishop Whealon. Archbishop Hoban."
12,"Spanish only language in El Salvador. Easier to train missionaries. Geographical proximity to Cleveland. Cooperative bishop in El Salvador. ""I was not looking to be a full time missionary"" temporary thing to help students at Lumen Cordium."
13,"Sisters of Charity was not responsible for replacement. Organizations involved in Cleveland Latin American Mission team; Diocesan priests, Ursuline Humility of Mary, Vincentians, Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine. ""A whole bunch of people who are centered in Cleveland."" Universe Bulletin, weekly Catholic newspaper. Connected people of Cleveland to Salvadoran people."
14,"Universe Bulletin, connect Cleveland to El Salvador ""Dear Folks Back Home"" letters. Stories from El Salvador. ""Kept it alive in the minds of Clevelanders,"" Diocese of Cleveland is in El Salvador."
15,"Outreach/education beyond Catholic Church in Cleveland. ""depended on people of Cleveland,"" as to how much people knew about El Salvador. ""Wider issue"" in Cleveland, but commitment came from Diocese."
16,"Began working in El Salvador 1976. ""A little concerned"" about the heat. Finish of graduate school, last paper twelve hours before leaving for Bolivia."
17,"Received Master's degree during first vacation summer 1976. August 1975, language school at Maryknoll Language School. Five months in Bolivia. Experience in language school. "
18,"Language school experience. Grammar with English speaking teacher, individual tutor spoke only Spanish."
19,"Experience learning Spanish in Bolivia language school. Audio-lingual method (ALM) of teaching Spanish. ""Most agonizing hour of my life"" "
20,"Experience with foreign languages in high school (Latin and French) impeded learning Spanish. ""My French and my Latin got in the way"" while learning Spanish."
21,"Grammar and word formation helped by Latin. ""I felt like ""Well, I guess I have enough to get started"""" in El Salvador. Advised that it would take a year to acclimate to communicating in Spanish."
22,"Experience communicating in Spanish with Salvadorans. Use of progressive tense, ""they know I'm a gringa."" People are kind if you attempt to communicate using their native language."
23,"Impression of Salvadoran people. Cleveland Latin American Mission team had three parishes: La Union, La Libertad, Chirilagua. Spent two and a half years in La Union, two and a half years in Zaragoza cantone of La Libertad. Lower class, farmers, storekeepers, street vendors. ""People trying to eek out a living and feed their family."""
24,"Salvadoran people ""I have never felt so appreciated for doing so little in my whole life. All you had to do was show up and they were glad."" Nature of work on mission team, support work. Catechist training. At least 50 villages attached to each parish."
25,"Literacy program. El Castano. Taught them the faith, and how to teach it. Connected people and villages. Labeled subversive for ""creating a space for people to share"" Purposefully stayed away from getting involved in politics. "
26,"Literacy. Food assistance programs for mothers, nursing mothers, and children. Caritas groups. 27 caritas groups in Zaragoza. Cost 75 centavos for food. Food included: milk, wheat-soy blend flour, oil, powdered milk, and tregor."
27,"Food shipped monthly to people. Alphalet, program used to teach adult literacy in El Salvador."
28,"Traveled to villages and taught classes. Favorite part of El Salvador work, ""it was all a favorite part."" Ability to connect with villagers, campesino people."
29,"""A marvelous thing"" to see villagers studying the Bible and other official church documents. ""It mattered to them what the church had to say about"" issues that affected them. ""That's why it got so dangerous"" Story of catechist, ""You know what sisters? I learned something. I learned that my wife is equal to me."""
30,"Development of Salvadoran people, ""if you help them."" People formed study groups to study bible and church documents."
31,"People interested in learning, ""a sense of recreation"" for villagers. Radios were scarce, televisions even more so. Broadcast of Archbishop Romero's homilies."
32,"Archbishop Romero's homilies included ""the events of the week,"" both leftist and government events. Impression of Archbishop Romero. La Union turned back over to Diocese of San Miguel. 200 trained catechist."
33,"La Union could ""do it themselves,"" Salvadoran priests took over. Srs. Martha Owen, Dorothy Kazel, Christine Rody in La Union. Father Miguel Montesinos, Salvadoran priest."
34,"Father Lionel Cruz. ""Leftist activities"" ""what he did in his personal time was none of our business"" Lionel Cruz's friend picked up by Salvadoran government."
35,"Franciscans. Miguel Montesinos, Lionel Cruz, Jim McCreight in the United States, Bishop Pilla did not allow them to return. Three were on a hit list in El Salvador."
36,"Three nuns moved to La Libertad as a result. Paul Schindler and Ken Meyers decided to place Srs. Martha Owen, Dorothy Kazel, and Christine Rody in Zaragoza, ""split up"" religious presence in La Libertad."
37,"Zaragoza experience. ""Typical town"" cobblestone streets. 1978 or 1979."
38,"*Sister Cynthia Glavic, author of In the Fullness of Life, biography of Sr. Dorothy Kazel* End of three year commitment. Renewed for two years. ""The diocese hadn't gotten their money out of me"""
39,Fully involved. Team working on transition. Sr. Martha left. Martha and Dorothy decided Dorothy would stay a sixth year. Plans for return vacation to the United States.
40,"Description of Sister Dorothy Kazel ""she's the kind of person that was so grounded that she could go from the sublime to the ridiculous in the same sentence and it made sense"" ""Absolutely marvelous lady"""
41,"Sister Martha Owen and Sister Christine Rody, reflection of time with Sister Dorothy Kazel, one regret ""there was no shared future"" with Sr. Dorothy. Anecdotes about Dorothy. Lumen Cordium High School candy drive."
42,"Fifty pounds of chocolate candy. Dorothy, Martha, and Christine shared what they had, divided up between three parishes. Other parishes did not do this. "
43,"Father Bill Gibbons. Mary Anne Flannery. Father Gibbons ""Oh, chocolate candy"" Sr. Dorothy ""Yes, we have some."" Boogers the cat."
44,Boogers the cat story. Covered in cement. Dorothy and Martha cleaned the cat. Pila (water basin).
45,"Dorothy would not wash the cat in cold water. Heated up water. Indicative of the ""sensitivity Dorothy had"" Fun stories. "
46,"Sister Dorothy greetings the cats. ""Fun loving and very serious at times."" Sr. Dorothy wrote letter to President Carter about aid (guns) to El Salvador."
47,Sr. Dorothy letter to President Carter. Viewpoint of missionary and situation in El Salvador. Escalation of hostilities in El Salvador.
48,"Felt safe because they were ""gringas."" Dorothy and Jean, blonde and blue eyes. ""We were the protection for the people"""
49,"""We didn't feel threatened"" Catechists and Salvadorans killed. Killing of Father Paul Schindler's sacristans. "
50,"People identified as ""leftist sympathizers"" if they informed police about bodies found. Priests served as middlemen between villagers and government officials in dealing with dead bodies. ""Killings were daily"""
51,"Killing of Salvadoran priests, Rutilio Grande was the first. ""We were cautious but we weren't exactly scared"" ""We certainly did not want to leave"" Meeting with Bishop Pilla after the killings of the four church women. Parallels between Archbishop Romero and Bishop Pilla. Invited to meeting morning of Sister Dorothy Kazel's funeral with Bishop Pilla. "
52,"Jean Donovan buried in Florida. Dorothy Kazel buried in Cleveland. Funerals on different days so that mission team could attend both. Meeting with Bishop Pilla. ""I need to hear from you, two things: One, your own going back to El Salvador and what do you think about the teams going back?"" Bishop Pilla under pressure to bring missionaries home. Moments of grace. "
53,"Moment of grace during the meeting with Bishop Pilla. ""If we don't go back, 50,000 people won't get the sacraments"" ""We could be there with them"" the Salvadoran people. "
54,"The desire to go back to El Salvador was ""unanimous"" among the missionaries. Bishop Pilla allowed their return. Scared she would be killed, too, for working with refugees. Theory on motive to murder four church women ""The evidence was that maybe they were out to get Ita and they killed everyone who was with Ita."" "
55,"Went back to El Salvador to say goodbye, afraid that she was a danger to the mission. Felt guilty because ""Why wasn't I ready to die?"" "
56,"Reaction to murders. ""Overwhelming"" in support. Salvadorans ""ashamed"" that the four women were killed. At the time, it was unclear who killed them. Theories that it was leftist guerillas trying to gain worldwide attention."
57,"Murder of seven leftist leaders in San Salvador the day after murder of Sisters Dorothy Kazel, Ita Ford, Maura Clarke and laywoman Jean Donovan. International journalists stayed to cover the story of the churchwomen. ""This is going to be an even bigger story, than the deaths of these seven leftists, so they hung around to find out what was going on"" Some stayed with missionaries in La Libertad. "
58,Journalists drove out to grave site. Father Paul Schindler's prayer service at US Embassy. Ambassador Robert White.
59,"Invited to dinner at Ambassador White's house for dinner 1 December 1980. Stayed the night because ""the situation was tight"" Dorothy and Jean took the day off, visited the hotel and pick up Maryknoll sisters that night 2 December 1980."
60,Four o'clock 2 December. Dorothy and Jean picked up two Maryknoll sisters at San Salvador airport. Returning from meeting in Nicaragua. Dorothy and Jean went back to pick up Maura Clarke and Ita Ford.
61,"Microbus stopped by soldiers. Four women taken to Santiago Nonualco, questioned. Taken to San Francisco and killed there. ""We didn't know anything about it"" Sister Christine at the refugee center waiting for Jean to bring women back from Chalatenango."
62,"""When my ladies didn't show up"" at the refugee center ""I thought what the heck is going on?"" Two o'clock 3 December, ""knew something screwy was going on"" Call to Father Paul Schindler ""we don't know where they are"""
63,"""Nobody seemed to know where they were"" ""started to get a little worried"" Father Paul Schindler called Sister Christine to La Libertad. Dorothy and Jean reported missing to the embassy. "
64,"""Never thought that they were killed"" maybe picked up by the government for questioning. 4 December, story of Canadian delegation telling Ambassador White about soldiers looking for someone on their plane when it landed at San Salvador airport. ""They were probably looking for Ita."""
65,"Chancery. ""Farmer had reported to his parish priest who reported to the Diocese that four women's bodies had been reported and that they had been buried by the campesinos."" Sister Christine stayed in La Libertad to relay information from grave site to Cleveland Diocese and Maryknoll. ""Yes, these were our women and yes, they had been murdered."""
66,"Phone call with Mexican reporter. Drove truck to grave site, brought sheets to cover the bodies. Ambassador White ""Those bastards aren't going to get away with this."""
67,"At grave site. ""One of those moments when the difference between life and death is so real"" Father Paul Schindler. Experience seeing the bodies ""so stark to me."" Undertaker never showed up. "
68,"Fathers Paul Schindler and John Spain, and Sister Elizabeth Coatcheck stayed with bodies. Rest went back to La Libertad. Contacted people from mission team ""called as many people as I could"" that deserved to get the news directly and not from ""the six o'clock news."" "
69,"Fathers Paul Schindler and John Spain brought bodies to San Salvador. Paul Schindler asked to have autopsies performed. ""Got a hassle from the coroner,"" relinquished that request. Maryknoll Sisters buried in El Salvador."
70,Two Maryknoll Sisters buried in Chalatenango. Father Ken Meyer arranged for Sister Dorothy and Jean Donovan bodies back to the United States. Sister Christine stayed in La Libertad to make phone calls.
71,"Funeral mass in La Libertad for Dorothy and Jean. Hassle with airplane ""A. they don't ship bodies on passenger planes and B. they wouldn't ship both bodies on the same plane"" Jean shipped to Sarasota, Florida. Dorothy to Cleveland. Half the mission team went with Jean's body, the other half went with Dorothy's body. Whole mission team attended funeral for Jean in Florida, then flew to Cleveland for Dorothy's funeral."
72,"Sister Dorothy's funeral. ""It made the front page,"" mass on Sunday and funeral both at St. John's Cathedral, both ""packed to the gills."" Funeral mass in La Libertad. Spontaneous applause for Dorothy and Jean as they were carried to the airport. "
73,"Funeral in Cleveland. ""Spontaneous applause"" by the people. Moment of tragedy and faith. ""tremendous support."" Connection and sense of responsibility in the world community."
74,"Motivation for murders. Ita Ford and Maura Clarke lived in Chalatenango, worked with refugees. Ita would confront the commandant at the national guard base in Chalatenango. Theory: national guard was out to get Ita and killed everyone who was with her."
75,Sister Christine and Elizabeth Coatcheck found the burned out van.
76,"Description of Jean Donovan. ""very much a 27 year old"" wanted to be of help and service. Self-confident. Movie ""Roses in December"" escapades, gin poured on cereal. ""True"" stories. "
77,"Family was well to do. Commitment to social justice. ""Sense that she could play guitar really well"" in charge of choir in La Libertad. Lived above school on her own, ""living with nuns"" cramped her style. Sister Dorothy moved in with Jean after murders of sacristans. Dorothy would come up to La Libertad ""for some nun life every now and then"""
78,"Jean Donovan ""very committed to mission work"" move Roses in December and book Salvador Witness by Ana Carrigan, accurate portrayals of Jean ""her commitment, her connection with Ireland, her generous heart"" Friends wrote her ""Why don't you come home?"" and she responded ""I can't because of the children and where else would you see roses blooming in December."""
79,"Jean Donovan's visit from her boyfriend/fiance. Talked about getting married, Dorothy joked, said ""she was going to chaperone"""
80,"Final impressions: ""Blessings are given to be shared. Gifts are given to be given."""