Ita Ford, M.M. (April 23, 1940 – December 2, 1980) was an American Maryknoll Sister who served as a missionary in Bolivia, Chile and El Salvador. She worked with the poor and war

refugees A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

. On December 2, 1980, she was beaten, raped, and murdered along with three fellow missionaries —

Dorothy Kazel Dorothy Kazel, OSU (June 30, 1939 – December 2, 1980), was an American Ursulines, Ursuline religious sister and missionary to El Salvador. On December 2, 1980, she 1980 murders of U.S. missionaries in El Salvador, was beaten, raped, and mur ...

Maura Clarke Maura Clarke, MM (January 13, 1931 – December 2, 1980), was an American Maryknoll Sisters, Maryknoll Sister who served as a missionary in Nicaragua and El Salvador. She worked with the poor and refugees in Central America from 1959 until her mu ...

and Jean Donovan — by members of the

military of El Salvador The Armed Forces of El Salvador () are the official governmental military forces of El Salvador. The Forces have three branches: the Salvadoran Army, the Salvadoran Air Force and the Navy of El Salvador. History Spanish colonial rule In the 19 ...

Life and work

Born in Brooklyn, New York, on April 23, 1940, Ford was the daughter of William Patrick Ford, an insurance man who took early retirement due to

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

, and Mildred Teresa O'Beirne Ford, a public-school teacher. She had an older brother, William P. Ford (1936–2008) and a younger sister, Irene. The family lived in Brooklyn. William Patrick Ford was related to Austin B. Ford, whose son, Francis Xavier Ford (1892–1952), was the first

seminarian A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

to apply to the newly established

Maryknoll Maryknoll is a Catholic non-profit mission movement consisting of four organizations. Together, they work as missioners around the world as Lay People, Priests, Brothers and Sisters. Mary's Knoll to Maryknoll In 1912, the Catholic Foreign Missi ...

Fathers in 1911 and, after being ordained as a missionary in 1917, went to China, where he became a bishop and a martyr. He died in a

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

prison camp there in 1952, when his young "cousin" Ita was twelve.''"Here I Am, Lord": The Letters And Writings of Ita Ford'' by Ita Ford and Jeanne Evans (New York: Orbis Books, 2005) .Bishop Francis Xavier Ford
accessed online December 11, 2006. Although her mother taught in the public school system, Ita Ford was educated in parochial schools, beginning at age five in the Visitation Academy in Bay Ridge, run by the Visitation Sisters, a semi-cloistered order. She attended Fontbonne Hall Academy, a high school operated by the Sisters of St. Joseph, where she worked on the school newspaper. Finally, from 1957 to 1961, she attended

Marymount Manhattan College Marymount Manhattan College is a private college on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. As of 2020, enrollment consisted of 1,571 undergraduate students with women making up 80.1% and men 19.9% of student enrollment. Columbia University Masters ...

, founded by the

Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary The Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary (known in the United States as the RSHM and in other parts of the world as RSCM) are a global Roman Catholic community of about 900 apostolic religious women. The institute was founded in 1849 in Bézie ...

. (Marymount Manhattan split from its mother school, Marymount College, in 1961).Martyrs of Central America
Following in her relative the Bishop's footsteps, Ford had confided in a high school friend at the age of fifteen that she not only wanted to be a nun, she specifically felt called to be a

missionary sister. Even before her college graduation in 1966, Ford had a vocational counselor advising her about her fitness for Maryknoll. She entered the Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic at the age of twenty-one. Entering religious life had been difficult, she described it as lonely in an inner sense. Three years later, out of concern for her personal health, she had to leave the formation program. After working seven years as an editor at Sadlier Publishers, Ford reapplied and was again accepted by the Maryknoll

Sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

in 1971. After serving briefly in Bolivia in 1972, she moved to Chile a short time before the military coup, during a time of chaos, there on September 11, 1973.Ita Ford
Peacemakers biography Ford lived in a poor shantytown with Sister Carla Piette, M.M., in Santiago, where they ministered to the needs of the people, especially those who lived in

poverty Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...

. Her time in Chile had a big effect on her. It was here that she learned what was expected of her in helping the poor. After spending a required "reflection year" in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, 1978–1979, before taking permanent

religious vows Religious vows are the public vows made by the members of religious communities pertaining to their conduct, practices, and views. In the Buddhist tradition, in particular within the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, many different kinds of r ...

in March 1980, Ford moved with Piette from Chile to

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

, arriving the day of

Óscar Romero Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (15 August 1917 – 24 March 1980) was a prelate of the Catholic Church in El Salvador. He served as Auxiliary Bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Salvador, Archdiocese of San Salvador, the Titular ...

's funeral. In June of that year, they began working with the Emergency Refugee Committee in Chalatenango. In this mission, Ford worked with the poor and war victims, providing food, shelter, transportation and burial. Ita and sister Carol knew the dangers they were putting themselves in by feeding the homeless in an oppressive society. Even with that knowledge Ita continued to help feed the homeless. After the death of Sister Carol in a flash flood on August 23, 1980—a flood which nearly cost Ford her own life, saved only by Piette's help in pushing her from the overwhelmed vehicle. The death of Carol had a lasting impact on Ita. She wondered why she had lived when her friend had not. Ford was joined on the mission by

, a

sister who was already in El Salvador in contemplation of a mission assignment. Altogether, Piette and Ford had worked together in Chile and El Salvador for seven years, until their deaths barely three months apart on December 2, 1980.

Murder

References

“Sister Ita Ford, MM.” Archives, April 23, 2014. https://maryknollmissionarchives.org/deceased-sisters/sister-ita-ford-mm/.

External links

A Search for Justice
a documentary from Retro Report
Ford v. Garcia Trial Background
Legal history section of PBS website on "Justice and the Generals" presentation in 2002. Accessed October 7, 2005.
The Maura Clarke – Ita Ford Center of Brooklyn, New York

Maryknoll Sisters website. Accessed October 7, 2005.

Memorial program in El Salvador in honor of the four churchwomen; accessed December 9, 2006.

(1993) accessed online December 9, 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Ita 1940 births 1980 deaths People from Brooklyn Marymount Manhattan College alumni Maryknoll Sisters 20th-century American Roman Catholic nuns Assassinated American activists Catholic martyrs of El Salvador Roman Catholic missionaries in Bolivia Roman Catholic missionaries in Chile Roman Catholic missionaries in El Salvador Deaths by firearm in El Salvador Female Roman Catholic missionaries American people murdered abroad People murdered in El Salvador Roman Catholic activists American Roman Catholic missionaries People of the Salvadoran Civil War 1980 murders of U.S. missionaries in El Salvador American missionaries in Bolivia American missionaries in Chile American missionaries in El Salvador Activists from New York (state) Catholics from New York (state) Violence against women in El Salvador

Life and work

Murder

References

Further reading

External links