Remembering Romero

Monday, March 21, 2005

Twenty-five years ago this Thursday (March 24, 2005), El Salvador's Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, was shot to death while saying Mass in a hospital chapel. At the time, his small Central American country was suffering a civil war between rich and poor. The United States' government saw this as a conflict between evil communism and holy capitalism, so a lot of aid was sent to the Salvadoran military. A month earlier, Archbishop Romero wrote to U.S. President Jimmy Carter and asked that all aid to the military be stopped. (President Carter did so, but the newly elected President Reagan resumed and increased military aid when he took office the following year.) Farmers who organized were murdered. Labor union leaders were tortured and killed. Even priests and catechists were threatened, tortured and executed when they preached that it was not God's will that the poor live in abject suffering.

The week before he was assassinated, in a homily that was broadcast on the radio, Archbishop Romero told the soldiers of El Salvador--most of whom were Catholic by birth if not practice--not to obey orders to torture and kill unarmed civilians. He again called on the United States to discontinue aid, which he said was only making matters worse. This angered many officers in the military, as well as members of a political party named Arena. Today, many people believe that this homily was why the archbishop was murdered. At noon Mass at the hospital on March 24, 1980, two men, one armed with a rifle, stepped inside the chapel at the rear. As soon as the archbishop finished his homily and was walking toward the altar to receive the gifts of bread and wine, the gunman fired and Oscar Romero fell down dead.

Oscar Romero is a compelling model of Lent's call to conversion, of Christ's call to lay down one's life for others, especially for the poor and the oppressed. Before he became a bishop, Romero was a good, pious, ordinary man who never desired to be a leader, to stand out, to face such huge challenges. Yet when he began to understand where life was leading him and where God was calling him, he stood in compassion with the suffering. Some say that it was the military's murder of his priest friend Rutilio Grande, an out-spoken advocate for the poor, that began his conversion.

But love is stronger than violence. Archbishop Romero once said, "If they kill me, I will rise again in the Salvadoran people." And he has, in bright witness to Jesus' resurrection. Crowds even today pray at his tomb in the cathedral, as they wait for the dawn of economic and political justice in their tiny country, named for the Savior. Many have taken up his work of building a just peace.

Some day, the pope will declare Oscar Romero a saint. But we needn't wait until then to live as he lived. In fact, we cannot. Too many people--in El Salvador, even though the war has officially ended, but also in our own city--too many people still suffer unjust oppression. Entering into Holy Week, how will we--good, ordinary, pious people who don't desire to be leaders, who don't want to challenge the way things are--how will we respond?

Baptism, confirmation and eucharist give us the power to respond as Romero did, with the compassion of Christ, the love of God, and the energy of the Holy Spirit. Let's remember, celebrate--and live--Oscar Romero's legacy.

FLICK PICKS

Two movies are available on both VHS and DVD. (And used copies in both formats are for sale on amazon.com for cheap!) Romero is a 1998 bio pic, starring the late Raul Julia as Oscar Romero. The 1986 film Salvador stars James Wood and Jim Belushi, who go down to El Salvador to party, but end up undergoing conversions of their own. Archbishop Romero is a minor character in this movie, but the film gives a good sense for the turmoil of the time and place. While fiction, it is based on fact.

FREE E-BOOK!

The Bruderhof are communities in the Anabaptist tradition that are dedicated absolutely to non-violence and peace-making. They used to run a publishing house, but decided that it was no longer their calling. So they now generously offer many of their books free as electronic downloads. They published a collection of excerpts from Archbishop Romero's homilies, diaries and radio broadcasts, titled The Violence of Love. Download it now from www.bruderhof.com/e-books/ViolenceOfLove.htm

Catholic Connections

"Remember, I am trying to speak as a member of a people. Although it is true that I am the bishop, I am not the only one with a prophetic mission. It is my whole people, all of my priests, all my religious, the Catholic schools, and all of you who form the Catholic community. In the name of all of you, beloved lay people who listen to me and reflect with me, I tell what our prophetic mission is, what we must preach with our witnessing and with our words before all the people, who so much need this Christian light. You and I are responsible for seeing that Christ's message reaches everyone!"
--Archbishop Oscar Romero, July 15, 1979

Reflection Questions

What one thing can I do this week to live the legacy of Oscar Romero?

Join us in to discuss these questions!