HONORING ÓSCAR ROMERO

Rev. John Dear via Huffington Post:

This week, I’m in El Salvador to join the national celebration on Saturday, May 23, for the beatification ceremony of Archbishop Oscar Romero, the great peacemaker who was shot dead while saying Mass and preaching for peace on March 24, 1980. After 35 years, 75,000 dead, countless millions of dollars from U.S. military aid to the death squads, continued political corruption and gang violence, and ongoing disregard from Vatican officials and right wing U.S. Catholic bishops, Pope Francis is beatifying Romero — naming him a “blessed,” the stage just before he is officially canonized as a “saint of God.” But for the people of El Salvador and much of the world, Romero has always been a saint.

For me, though, Archbishop Oscar Romero is not just the greatest bishop in Christian history, he is one of the greatest human beings in history — right up there with the likes of Jeremiah and Isaiah, Francis and Clare, Mahatma Gandhi and Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks, Thich Nhat Hanh and Archbishop Tutu. Oscar Romero is the epitome of what it means to be a Christian — a prophet of peace, justice and nonviolence.

And that’s precisely the problem. That’s why he was killed. That’s why so many church authorities ignore him, resent him, even hate him. He was just like the nonviolent Jesus. Romero vigorously denounced the U.S. backed death squads and U.S. military aid, defended the poor and oppressed, stood with all those being threatened and killed, and was eventually killed himself, standing at the altar. His martyrdom attracted the love and devotion of millions upon millions of poor people and nonviolent activists in El Salvador and Latin America.

Read John’s full article on Huffington Post