LATE 1980′s: Robert (Bob) Holstein, a former California Province Jesuit, begins conversations with Fr. Charlie Currie, S.J. (President of AJCU at the time) about the idea of an “Ignatian Teach-In for Justice.”

1989: Ignacio Ellacuria, S.J., Segundo Montes, S.J., Ignacio Martin-Baro, S.J., Juan Ramon Moreno, S.J., Armando Lopez, S.J., Joaquin Lopez y Lopez, S.J., Julia Elba Ramos, Celina Ramos, are killed at the University of Central America in San Salvador, El Salvador. 19 of the 26 Salvadoran soldiers responsible for the murders received training at the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA).

1990-1995: A growing number of people hold vigil at the gates of Fr. Benning.  School of the Americas Watch (SOAWatch) is founded in 1990 and begins to organize the annual vigils.

1996: The first Ignatian family gathering takes place at a hotel in Columbus, Georgia.

1998: The Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice takes up its home in “The Tent” which has since become the symbol of ISN. Sitting at the edge of the Chattahoochee River in downtown Columbus, rain or shine, the tent became an important part of the Jesuit institutions’ time in Georgia to protest the School of the Americas.

2006: The Teach-In moves from the tent to the Columbus Convention Center.
Over 3,000 people attend the Saturday Mass.

2010: The Teach-In moves from GA to Washington, D.C., and engages the Ignatian family in new and exciting ways including legislative advocacy on Capitol Hill.

2011: Nearly 1,200 people attend the Teach-In and over 800 individuals participate in 130 meetings in 60 different congressional offices on the final day of the Teach-In.

2012: The energy builds for an exciting Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice and Ignatian Family Advocacy Month to follow in February 2013.