(These selections from the sermons and writings of Archbis...)
These selections from the sermons and writings of Archbishop Oscar Romero share the message of a great holy prophet of modern times. Three short years transformed Romero, archbishop of San Salvador, from a conservative defender of the status quo into one of the churchs most outspoken voices of the oppressed. Though silenced by an assassins bullet, his spiritand the challenge of his life lives on.
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(Like the prophets and like Jesus, Romero spoke the truth ...)
Like the prophets and like Jesus, Romero spoke the truth and paid the price. Like Jesus, he testified to the validity of his words by the quality of his deeds, and his testimony in word and deed was faithful until the moment when he offered his life for his people. Because the Archbishop's testimony was so evidently that of the just man of whom the Book of Wisdom speaks, because he was so clearly in the tradition of Jeremiah and Jesus, his words demand our attention: the words he spoke to his countrymen and the words he spoke to us as American citizens. In the complex, tragic, and violent struggle for justice in El Salvador, the Archbishop exemplified what the Latin American bishops at Puebla called a preferential option for the poor. As a pastor he spoke the truth to all in his society, but he spoke with and for the poor...The assassin's bullet will not silence the power of his words, or his witness.
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(Book by Romero, Oscar A.)
Book by Romero, Oscar A.
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Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez was born in El Salvador's municipality of Ciudad Barrios, to Santos and his wife Guadalupe de Jésus Galdámez, on August 15, 1917. When he was two years old, the young boy was baptized by Fr. Cecilio Morales.
Óscar had seven siblings—Gustavo, Rómulo, Zaída, Gaspar, Mamerto, Arnoldo and Aminta (who passed away as an infant).
The child attended a government-aided school till third grade, and then was taught at home by Anita Iglesias. Meanwhile, his father showed him the nuances of carpentry, since employment for the educated in El Salvador was not guaranteed.
The young boy of thirteen joined a divinity school in San Miguel, and then pursued his higher studies in Theology from San Salvador's seminary in 1937. After his father died, he travelled to Rome to get enrolled in the ‘Gregorian University’.
During the World War II, even though many students went back home because of the growing turmoil in Italy, Romero remained behind to complete his degree in theology during 1940-41.
The 'Catholic University of Louvain' in Belgium awarded him an honorary doctorate in February 1980, which he accepted from Pope John Paul II.
1942, Romero became a catholic priest in Rome, but the next year he was asked to return home by the bishop at El Salvador. Along with friend Fr. Valladares, he set out for home, but was detained in Spain by Cuban officials for suspected association with Italian dictator Mussolini.
The two friends were imprisoned, during which Fr. Valladares fell seriously ill. They had to be transferred to a hospital, with help from priests belonging to the 'Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer'.
They were soon let go by the Cubans, and the two priests reached El Salvador. Óscar began his career as a priest in Anamorós for a brief period, and then settled down in San Miguel.
During his time in the Catholic church of San Miguel, the priest took efforts to contribute to the society in a meaningful way. He formed an 'Alcoholics Anonymous' association and assisted in building the cathedral. In recognition of his benefaction to the city, he was made the Rector of a seminary in San Salvador.
In 1966, he was appointed Secretary of El Salvador's 'Episcopal Conference', and the Director of the archdiocesan weekly 'Orientación'. The paper would publish instances of torture and repression, in order to create more awareness among the citizens.
The benevolent priest was made an assistant to Archbishop Luis Chávez y González of San Salvador in 1970. Since Romero was conservative, his appointment did not make the radical priests happy.
In December 1975, he was chosen as the Bishop of the 'Diocese of Santiago de María', which was a rural area in the province of San Salvador.
Óscar was made the Archbishop of San Salvador on February 23, 1977, a decision that received mixed responses. On the one hand there were many who warmly welcomed his appointment, while others who were not too conservative, seemed to be upset.
Almost a month later, fellow priest Rutilio Grande, known for his philanthropic activities for the poor, was assassinated. Upon Grande’s death, the newly-appointed Archbishop requested the government to take action, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.
During his term as Archbishop, he used to broadcast sermons on the radio, every week. The purpose of the broadcast was to tell people of all the violations of basic human rights that were taking place in the country.
During his lifetime, the Archbishop had written several books, some of them being ‘The Violence of Love’, ‘The Church Is All of You’, ‘Voice of the Voiceless’, and ‘Shepherd's Diary’.
On March 24, 1980, a day after the Archbishop had delivered a speech to the Salvadorean soldiers to heed God's call and stop taking advantage of the poor, he was shot dead. The holy Mass had taken place at a small chapel in the 'La Divina Providencia' hospital.
Óscar was buried on March 30, 1980, at the 'Metropolitan Cathedral', in San Salvador, and his funeral service was attended by over 250, 000 followers from across the globe. The same day, there were bomb attacks, suspected to be carried out by the army, killing several people who had come to pay respect to the priest.
Óscar Romero, popularly called 'Monseñor', was a Roman Catholic priest from El Salvador, who soon became the Bishop and subsequently the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador. Until his assassination by right-wing gunmen, Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador spoke out courageously in defense of human rights and social justice in strife-torn El Salvador. Pope John Paul II awarded him the title of 'Servant of God', and more recently, Pope Francis named him a martyr, for his humanitarian efforts as a bishop
In 1978-79, this popular Archbishop was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, by 119 British Statesmen and 26 diplomats from the United States.
The beatification of Romero was held in San Salvador on 23 May 2015 in the Plaza Salvador del Mundo under the Monumento al Divino Salvador del Mundo.
The Romero Centre in Dublin is today an important centre that "promotes Development Education, Arts, Crafts, and Awareness about El Salvador. "
The Christian Initiative Romero is a non-profit organisation in Germany working in support of industrial law and human rights in Central American countries.
The Romero Institute, a nonprofit law and public policy center in Santa Cruz, California, headed by Daniel Sheehan, was named after Archbishop Romero in 1996.
Edmonton Catholic School System named in 2004 a High School in west Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Archbishop Oscar Romero High School.
A secondary school in the town of Hoorn, The Netherlands, is named after Archbishop Oscar Romero.
The Toronto Catholic District School Board opened in 1989 a secondary school in Toronto, Canada, named after Archbishop Oscar Romero.
Romero Center Ministries in Camden, NJ provides Catholic education and retreat experiences inspired by Archbishop Oscar Romero’s prophetic witness. The mission of Romero Center Ministries is to "seek personal, communal, and societal transformation by living ministry as proclaimed in Christ’s Gospel. " The center hosts over 1, 600 guests annually from high schools, colleges, and youth groups which participate in the Urban Challenge program.
(These selections from the sermons and writings of Archbis...)
(Like the prophets and like Jesus, Romero spoke the truth ...)
(Book by Romero, Oscar A.)
He was known for his opinion that liberation theology was of two kinds, the Catholic vision and the Marxist belief. The Archbishop openly announced that he supported the Catholic idea, but not the other.
As considered by many, Romero's spiritual ideals inculcated several aspects of Christianity, like love for the Church of Rome, finding God in others, self-offering to Jesus Christ, amongst many more.
As an Archbishop, he came across several instances of human rights abuse, and took it upon himself to protest against these misdeeds. Adopting a non-violent approach, he supported the poor and condemned the actions of the army. Conservative by nature, he was often not very popular with priests who sided with the Marxists. His methods of castigating social issues like injustice, poverty and the rampant assassinations of priests and nuns did not go down too well with some of the citizens of the country.
Quotations:
“We have never preached violence, except the violence of love, which left Christ nailed to a cross, the violence that we must each do to ourselves to overcome our selfishness and such cruel inequalities among us. The violence we preach is not the violence of the sword, the violence of hatred. It is the violence of love, of brotherhood, the violence that wills to beat weapons into sickles for work. ”
“When we struggle for human rights, for freedom, for dignity, when we feel that it is a ministry of the church to concern itself for those who are hungry, for those who have no schools, for those who are deprived, we are not departing from God’s promise. He comes to free us from sin, and the church knows that sin’s consequences are all such injustices and abuses. The church knows it is saving the world when it undertakes to speak also of such things. ”
“There are many things that can only be seen through eyes that have cried”
“I don’t want to be an anti, against anybody. I simply want to be the builder of a great affirmation: the affirmation of God, who loves us and who wants to save us. ”
“For the church, the many abuses of human life, liberty, and dignity are a heartfelt suffering. The church, entrusted with the earth’s glory, believes that in each person is the Creator’s image and that everyone who tramples it offends God. As holy defender of God’s rights and of his images, the church must cry out. It takes as spittle in its face, as lashes on its back, as the cross in its passion, all that human beings suffer, even though they be unbelievers. They suffer as God’s images. There is no dichotomy between man and God’s image. Whoever tortures a human being, whoever abuses a human being, whoever outrages a human being abuses God’s image, and the church takes as its own that cross, that martyrdom. ”
"Beautiful is the moment in which we understand that we are no more than an instrument of God; we live only as long as God wants us to live; we can only do as much as God makes us able to do; we are only as intelligent as God would have us be. ”
“Let us not forget: we are a pilgrim church, subject to misunderstanding, to persecution, but a church that walks serene, because it bears the force of love. ”
“We must overturn so many idols, the idol of self first of all, so that we can be humble, and only from our humility can learn to be redeemers, can learn to work together in the way the world really needs. Liberation that raises a cry against others is no true liberation. Liberation that means revolutions of hate and violence and takes away lives of others or abases the dignity of others cannot be true liberty. True liberty does violence to self and, like Christ, who disregarded that he was sovereign becomes a slave to serve others. ”
“The church must suffer for speaking the truth, for pointing out sin, for uprooting sin. No one wants to have a sore spot touched, and therefore a society with so many sores twitches when someone has the courage to touch it and say: “You have to treat that. You have to get rid of that. Believe in Christ. Be converted. ”
“Those who, in the biblical phrase, would save their lives—that is, those who want to get along, who don’t want commitments, who don’t want to get into problems, who want to stay outside of a situation that demands the involvement of all of us—they will lose their lives. What a terrible thing to have lived quite comfortably, with no suffering, not getting involved in problems, quite tranquil, quite settled, with good connections politically, economically, socially—lacking nothing, having everything. To what good? They will lose their lives. ”
