We Must Do More Than Deplore the Killing We Finance : El Salvador: Profound social and economic changes are needed, but to call for them is to call down on oneself the same fate as the six murdered Jesuits.

The barbaric slaughter of six Jesuits and two co-workers in El Salvador last week continues to reverberate through the United States. Although Congress inexplicably refused to send the modest signal of withholding part of U.S. military assistance until evidence of serious pursuit and prosecution of the murderers is manifest, it is clear that the latest atrocities could be a threat to new military aid.

Such predictions are cold comfort to Salvadorans caught in the cross fire of insurgency and repression, but they have significance for the U.S. tie to the violence. It is the American connection that protests rightly focused on during the past week; Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference wrote President Bush, calling for U.S. diplomatic action to press the investigation of the killings and to protect civilians.

In the last decade, the United States has been part of the war in El Salvador because we have contributed $4 billion to the Salvadoran government. It is not enough to deplore the violence; we are part of the process that has sustained it.

From Archbishop Oscar A. Romero in 1980 to Archbishop Rivera y Damas today, the Roman Catholic Church has defined the roots of the crisis in terms of social justice and human rights. A long-suffering population--the vast majority of the country--has experienced neither protection of their rights nor participation in their society. A marginalized peasantry, a harassed labor movement and a persecuted church testify to the need for profound socioeconomic change. To call for these changes is to be labeled radical, or communist, and to be vulnerable to the kind of brutal attacks experienced by the Jesuits.

Moreover, the attacks continue: In the past week, security forces have raided Catholic and Protestant offices; threats have been made on the government radio against Archbishop Rivera and auxiliary Bishop Rosa Chavez, and religious workers have been expelled from the country. An astonishing precedent was set by the country’s attorney general--responsible for investigating the murder of the Jesuits--when he wrote to the Pope, urging the removal of bishops from El Salvador. The facade of the letter was to protect the bishops; the intent was clear: Church support for the poor is unacceptable.

The murdered Jesuits and the threatened church workers who carry on their witness should be seen as representatives of a wider movement. A process initiated by Vatican Council II produced a church committed to “the option for the poor” throughout Latin America. In Central America, the theme was given a specific application by Archbishop Romero: The church was called to accompany the poor in their struggle for human rights and social justice. The fulfillment of this vocation has produced martyrs--bishops, priests, sisters and laity.

To see the Jesuits as accompanying the people focuses attention on all Salvadoran deaths, which do not attract the attention of the assassination of six priests. In the past month, more than 600 Salvadorans have been killed. While the attacks on church officials have consistently come from the right, both government and insurgency have treated the civilian populace as only a means to their ends.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving week, all this brutality can seem distant: awful, yet removed. But the United States is not removed from the war. U.S. aid has sustained the Salvadoran government. Advocates of U.S. policy quickly point out the results of this expenditure: The insurgency has been contained, if not defeated, elections have been held and some reform of the military has been pursued. Critics of the policy point to other results: intensified war, an escalation of the technological violence through expanded air power, an elected government that seemingly has no control over death squads and hardly any over its military and Treasury police.

In the face of the debate about U.S. aid, some realities are clear. The United States cannot avoid some responsibility for the violence, and several immediate steps by Washington are in order. First, it must be made clear to the Salvadoran government and its military that this “open season” on church personnel will not be tolerated; more specifically, it will not be funded.

Second, effective, aggressive pursuit and prosecution of the murderers of the Jesuits and their co-workers will be a definitive test in the next round of appropriations for military aid. The message should be: No arrests, no prosecution, no aid. Third, the civilian population must not be treated as “suspected sympathizers” or “suspected subversives” but as civilians, immune from attack. Fourth, the International Red Cross must be allowed access to all areas of conflict and provided the necessary protection to do its work.

Fifth, churches designated as places of refuge must be respected; by extension, church agencies should be allowed to function in safety. Sixth, the Soviet Union needs to be engaged by President Bush at the Malta summit; Moscow must deliver equally firm messages about protecting civilians, prohibiting the taking of hostages and respect for religious and humanitarian agencies to the insurgents.

Finally, after a decade of war, the Central American peace process stands out as the reasonable, humane and moral imperative to be pursued by all parties. The Salvadoran bishops’ continued call for dialogue leading to negotiation is the alternative to the violence and madness that has engulfed El Salvador for a decade and, last week, claimed the lives of eight of its noblest citizens.