Returning to Chile

Dr Michael O’Sullivan SJ, director, treasurer, and co-founder of SpIRE (Spirituality Institute for Research and Education) in Dublin, spent some years as a Jesuit missionary priest in Chile. He was in the country during the dictatorship of General Pinochet who had overthrown the constitutional government of Salvador Allende in 1973. Michael was subsequently removed from Chile because of threats to his safety.

In 2023, half a century after the Pinochet coup, the people of the country decided to commemorate and reflect on their struggle against his dictatorship and their efforts to maintain a democracy. Michael had been back to Chile in the meantime on short visits but during the 50th anniversary year he received a number of invitations to return to the places where he had worked, and he was able to return again recently to the country whose people had ‘touched his heart’.

In this podcast he speaks to Pat Coyle about his return visit. He reflects on what life was like there many years ago, the struggle for justice and freedom, the fear and courage of the people he worked with, and how things have changed in Chile since those painful times.

Listen above, and you can also watch Michael’s video interview from March 2018 in which he shares about his time in Chile, the threats to his life, and his time later in El Salvador and Nicaragua in Central America – click here ».