response must reflect a genuine love for the poor majorities, a passion for social justice, and a courage to meet the attacks, the misunderstandings, and the persecution that will ensue because of its stand on behalf of the poor. 7 The UCA did indeed experience persecution, including death threats and bombings starting in the early 1970's. Martha Doggert has provided a chronology of the bombings of UCA facilities, assassinations of priests and laypersons, death threats directed at the Jesuit faculty, campaigns to defame the UCA in the national media, and government attempts to strip the Jesuits of their Salvadoran citizenship. 8 Source: The Guardian The relationship of the Jesuit faculty to the army and the government was not, however, always adversarial. In October 1979, at a crucial juncture in modern Salvadoran history, there is evidence that Ellacura offered assistance in drafting a set of reforms that were announced in the form of a proclamation by a Revolutionary Governing Junta ( Junta Revolucionaria de Gobierno, JRG) that had just come to power through a coup. 9 The JRG was constituted and supported by a broad based coalition, including the reformist Young Military (Juventud Militar), led by Colonel Adolfo A. Majano. If the reformists had been able to implement a promised set of political, social, and economic reforms, civil war might have been averted. 10 The Carter Administration, which was supplying military and logistical assistance to the Salvadoran government, also thought the JRG could succeed, but failed to apply sufficient leverage in