Thank you Dean Brackley

As I'm sure you've all heard by now, Father Dean Brackley, SJ died Sunday. Dean was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer about four months ago and, after undergoing unsuccessful treatment, he returned to El Salvador at the end of August. Dean was one of the Jesuits who volunteered to serve the people of El Salvador following the murders of six Jesuits in November 1989. 

Tim has a write-up from the honorary degree that Dean recently received from Marquette University. 

John Donaghy has an excerpt from "Meeting the Victims, Falling in Love" that Dean wrote and shares his thoughts at Hermano Juancito.

See also stories from the National Catholic Reporter, Independent Catholic News, Catholic Free Press.

Like Ellacuria and the Jesuit martyrs before him, Dean will never be replaced. However, we can help in some ways to ensure that his work continues now that he has moved on to be with the Lord. 

For the last several years, Dean and other volunteers have funded a Martyrs Scholarship Program. The program is designed to help students with economic need attend the UCA. Today, approximately 50 students have their tuition and living expenses paid for through the scholarship. 

One of Dean's final desires was to institutionalize the scholarship program so that it would continue well after he left us.

Please help us transform El Salvador’s future. When you support an UCA Martyrs Scholarship Student you help a young person receive a college education that will change their life, their family, and their community for the better. Due to the economic crisis in El Salvador and in the U.S., the program has received fewer donations than before, but the need for scholarships is greater every year.

Help us by sponsoring one of the students in this newsletter or contact us if you wish to sponsor a student from a specific community or major. Your donation will go directly to pay for the student´s tuition and other educational costs. Your donation of any size helps or give $1100 to sponsor one year of the student´s college education. Send your donation to:

Dean Brackley, S.J.

Centro Monseñor Romero, VIP SAL No. 568

PO Box 025364

Miami, FL 33102-5364

Make your check payable to ‘‘Asociación Centro Mons. Romero’’

For more information contact Haydee Diaz at haydee_diaz@hotmail.com.

Dean Brackley returns to El Salvador

From the Independent Catholic News

Fr Dean Brackley SJ has returned to San Salvador, after being diagnosed with cancer that has already reached an advanced stage.  Dean, a Jesuit of the New York Province, was one of those who in 1990 volunteered to go to San Salvador to take the place of the six Jesuits assassinated by the army in a night time raid on the Jesuit University (UCA) in 1989 at the height of El Salvador's civil war.

Dean taught theology at the UCA in the Monseñor Romero Centre.  But he identified a special role for himself in educating US and European Church people about the realities of poverty and oppression in Central America and the role played by the United States in maintaining that situation...

The Chairman of the Archbishop Romero Trust, Julian Filochowski, writes: 'Five months ago Dean was diagnosed with cancer that had already reached an advanced stage.  He has now returned to San Salvador.  Networks of prayer linking his friends and acquaintances of many years in the US, Central America and Europe, have kept Dean constantly in their hearts and minds.'

Dean himself sent the following message from San Salvador: 'I continue to have ups and downs, but the great gift and big change is that I feel at peace.  God has given me this grace to each day put myself in God's hands. I am deeply grateful for your prayers.'

Dean probably doesn't know this, but in 1995 he wrote a letter supporting my Fulbright application to El Salvador. With no questions asked, Dean offered up the university's resources and faculty. 
I have had the privilege to meet him several times since then, most recently when he came to Scranton to receive the Pedro Arrupe award for distinguished contributions to Ignation mission and ministries.





Dean's a remarkable person. My prayers go out to Dean, his family and friends.