7 comments

• Jose Adan Moreno

  Jon Cortina’s legacy will live forever in El Salvador, the hundreds of people he touched with his humanity since his arrival to El Salvador in 1955 should remain in Guarjila, Chalatenango.

  I met him less than a year ago in Pro-Busqueda and talked to him over the phone in the middle of the year whailke getting a recognition from a Salvadoran organization in Los Angeles, CA.

  What is most important for me, he was shoulder to shoulder defending our people’s rights and justice with my mom’s uncle Rutilio Grande.

  Padre Jon y now next to Him, Monsenor ROmero and Padre Rutilio, but watching us continue his work.

  May God bless him and you all.

  16 December 2005, 15:35 pm

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• arthur allen

  Does anyone know if services will be held in the Washington, DC area to remember Jon Cortina?

  21 December 2005, 9:23 am

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• Claudia Rodríguez

  Here is the information for Arthur Allen:

  ECUMENICAL SERVICE FOR JON CORTINA

  WHEN: Saturday January 21st at 7:00 p.m.

  WHERE: Capilla del Kay Center
  American University
  4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW
  Washington, DC 20016-8046

  Following there will be a small reception at the Key Center Lounge (from 8:00 to 9:30 p.m.)

  For more information please contact:
  Norwin Herrera 240-988-4620 norwinhc@yahoo.com
  Claudia Rodríguez 301-270-2417 cojutepecana@earthlink.net

  16 January 2006, 0:00 am

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• Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso

  Fr. Jon de Cortina was in the Philippine on the last week of May 1997. He joined our series of events during our commemoration of the International Week of the Disappeared. His eloquent speeches on the human rights situation of El Salvador and his work to find missing children were amazing, indeed. He was one of the first to think of the idea of giving birth to the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances, which is now almost eight years in existence and which has a membership of eight organizations from seven Asian countries. He also facilitated our linkage with the Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees.

  I am fortunate to be with Fr. Cortina in a number of occasions in the Philippines, Mexico, El Salvador, Switzerland, France and Spain. We terribly miss Fr. Jon, who have dearly touched our lives.

  Fr. Jon, you will always be in our hearts. Your good examples will continue to be our inspiration in this difficult work for truth, justice, redress and recuperation of the historical memory of the disappeared.

  MARY AILEEN DIEZ BACALSO
  Secretary-General
  Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances
  Room 310-311 Phil. Social Science Center Bldg.
  Commonwealth Ave., Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines

  16 January 2006, 23:02 pm

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• Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso

  Today is the 40th day since Fr. Jon de Cortina’s death. While it is really profound to say and believe that death is not extinguishing the light but putthing out the lamp because the dawn has come, still, we miss Fr. Jon terribly. He will never ever be forgotten. He remains in the most special place in our hearts.

  20 January 2006, 3:25 am

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• Patricia Fontg

  I had the privilege of having Father Cortina as a professor in 1981 when I was an engineering student at UCA in El Salvador. To date, I still remember his exams as being the most difficult that I have ever taken, and I am sure that most of my classmates of the time if not all would agree.

  A few of us, who are still in touch and living outside of El Salvador, exchanged thoughts after his death. Of course, we remembered the teacher, his sense of humor and his great intellect, but above all, his humanity. If I could resume in a word what he was, I would say he was a builder. First, a builder of bridges as an engineer, a builder of minds as a teacher, then a builder of knowledge as researcher, a builder of faith as a priest, a builder of truth with his relentless work in Pro-Búsqueda, and with no doubt, a builder of justice in El Salvador.

  I feel honoured of having been touched by Father Cortina, and I will try as humbly as I can to reflect his values and to teach them to my children.

  10 March 2006, 9:56 am

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• mary aileen d. bacalso

  It has been a year since Fr. Jon Cortina’s death. But his examples and memory will forever linger in our memory.

  May he rest in peace, Amen.

  MARY AILEEN D. BACALSO
  Secretary-General
  Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances
  Quezon City, Philippines

  23 December 2006, 9:37 am

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