Maura Clarke, MM (January 13, 1931 – December 2, 1980), was an American Maryknoll Sister who served as a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

and

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 ...

. She worked with the poor and

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 ...

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

from 1959 until her murder in 1980. On December 2, 1980, she was beaten, raped, and murdered along with three fellow missionaries — Ita Ford,

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 ...

and Jean Donovan — by members of the military of El Salvador.

Early life and education

Mary Elizabeth Clarke was born in

Fordham Hospital Fordham Hospital was the first public hospital in the Bronx, New York City, having opened in 1892. Prior to that time, all the New York City municipal hospitals were in Manhattan. It was located in the Fordham section of the Bronx on Valentine A ...

to Irish Catholic immigrant parents John and Mary Clarke. Her father was a member of the Irish Republic Army, which inspired her from a young age to fight oppression. At age two, Clarke, her parents, and newborn brother moved to

Rockaway, Queens The Rockaway Peninsula, commonly referred to as The Rockaways or Rockaway, is a peninsula at the southern edge of the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Queens on Long Island, New York (state), New York. Relatively isolated fro ...

. There, Clarke grew up in majority-Catholic neighborhoods, moving frequently as landlords raised rent prices in the summer. She attended the schools of St. Camillus, St. Francis de Sales School in Belle Harbor, and Stella Maris. After graduating from Stella Maris, she took classes at St. Francis College. Clarke became interested in missionary work as a teenager, in part excited by the idea of travel and adventure. While at Stella Maris, she joined the school's Catholic Students' Mission Crusade.

Maryknoll work

In 1950, at age 19, Clarke decided to join the Maryknoll Sisters. She became a

postulant A postulant (from , "to ask") was originally one who makes a request or demand; hence, a candidate. The use of the term is now generally restricted to those asking for admission into a Christian monastery or a religious order for the period precedi ...

on September 6, 1950. Clarke initially struggled as a postulant, desiring to serve a community rather than follow monastic rules. As a novitiate, she studied education at the Maryknoll Teachers College. She took her first vows in 1953. After graduating from Maryknoll Teachers College in 1954, she taught in

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

. In 1959, Clarke was assigned to Siuna, a remote location on Nicaragua's Atlantic coast. There, she assisted in running the local church, hospital, and school. In 1962, Clarke became sister superior of the mission in Siuna. That year also marked the end of the Second Vatican Council, which shifted the Maryknoll sisters work from simple charity work to community organizing. Clarke was in favor of the shift, and encouraged the increasing engagement with the communities the sisters served. In 1970, Clarke began working in

Managua Managua () is the capital city, capital and largest city of Nicaragua, and one of the List of largest cities in Central America, largest cities in Central America. Located on the shores of Lake Managua, the city had an estimated population of 1, ...

, becoming involved in the protests being organized in the city's slums. She provided support to student protesters and hunger strikers, among others. In 1972, after a devastating earthquake hit the country, Clarke supported refugees in protesting for better living conditions within refugee camps. She participated in the "occupation of the Nicaraguan consulate to the United Nations". For Clarke, liberation theology had merged the political and religious. Clarke returned to the United States in 1976, where she served on a Maryknoll Sisters World Awareness Team, educating other nuns on the political landscape in Nicaragua and the U.S.'s involvement with the Nicaraguan government and its crimes. After three years in the U.S., Clarke returned to Nicaragua in 1980. With the Nicaraguan Somoza regime fully removed from power, Clarke decided to move on to another country rather than to continue to work in Nicaragua, noting "we’ve won here. They still haven’t won in El Salvador". Clarke came to El Salvador in August 1980, first working in Santa Ana. Her work in El Salvador was influenced by Archbishop Oscar Romero, assassinated earlier that year, who asked that nuns join the struggle of parishioners against dictatorial regimes. After her first few weeks in the country, she joined Ita Ford in working in the northern mountains of Chalatenango, at that point the "frontlines of the war". Her early work in leading prayer meetings evolved to work in distributing food and supplies to farmers and peasants. She also worked to help targeted individuals flee to the cities and to file records on human rights violations. In November 1980, Clarke returned briefly to Nicaragua for a Maryknoll meeting. There, in light of worsening conditions in El Salvador, Maryknoll began to discuss evacuating Clarke and fellow missionaries Ita Ford,

, and Jean Donovan; all four refused.

Murder

In early December 1980, Clarke and Ita Ford returned to El Salvador from Nicaragua, where they had been attending a Maryknoll meeting.

, and Jean Donovan met the two at the airport. On December 2, while returning from the airport, the four were attacked by the military.

Legacy

A mass is held in Rockaway annually in honor of Clarke. In St. Francis de Sales Church, stained glass windows depicting Clarke were installed.

References

External links

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:Clarke, Maura 1931 births 1980 deaths 1980 murders of U.S. missionaries in El Salvador American missionaries in El Salvador 20th-century American Roman Catholic nuns 20th-century Roman Catholic martyrs Activists from New York (state) American people of Irish descent American people murdered abroad American Roman Catholic missionaries Assassinated American activists Catholic martyrs of El Salvador Catholics from New York (state) Deaths by firearm in El Salvador Female Roman Catholic missionaries Maryknoll Sisters People from Rockaway, Queens People murdered in El Salvador People of the Salvadoran Civil War Roman Catholic activists Roman Catholic missionaries in El Salvador Roman Catholic missionaries in Nicaragua