Another Viewpoint from Readers
Editor's Note: Our feature profile on Archbishop Oscar Romero riled a few of our
loveable liberals out there. In fairness, here's Father Beach's response to our profile of the marytred
Bishop who was chosen by the readers as the 68th most influential Catholic of the 20th Century.
"When I give food to a hungry person, I am called a saint, but when I ask why the poor are hungry, I am called a communist!"
There are a few errors in your biography of Archbishop Romero as #68 of the 100 Top Catholics of the 20th century. Archbishop Oscar Romero was not shot while distributing
communion, but as he spread his arms to begin the offertory. This action and
circumstance --the offering of the sacrifice--clearly speaks very strongly to
the Salvadorans who were present and continue to tell the story.
Also, Romero didn't really oppose the FMLN, which wasn't technically formed
until the summer of 1980, after he had been killed. In his final pastoral
letter, Romero even reluctantly admitted that those who had resorted to armed
resistance were perhaps doing the only thing possible in the face of oppression.
Your insinuation that liberation theologians are communists and leftists and
unfaithful is another example of the very persecution Romero himself suffered.
If you paint people with these colors, you can dismiss them without qualms.
Furthermore, your description of Romero's audience with Pope John Paul II has
been contradicted. Romero had been strongly supported by Paul VI, a real saint,
yet John Paul II was initially fairly icy to Romero, most likely as a result of
reports that Romero was sympathetic to communist rebels, reports made by the
papal nuncio to El Salvador, an unscrupulous lackey of the rich and powerful
there.
The Pope (John Paul II) did show strong character and perspicacious
judgment, for he came to recognize Romero's integrity and realized that he had
not offered the support he should have in their meeting.
I know many people of
El Salvador who were members of base communities and who followed, without being
theologians themselves, the gospel that liberation theology preaches, a message
perfectly consistent with the official social teachings of the church.
These
men and women were tainted with the stigma of being communists and persecuted,
but when you ask them how strong communist ideas were in their base groups, they
say they know little if anything of it, but only know some of their own were
shot because they taught people to read the bible and ask questions about
justice.
As Dom Helder Camara of Brazil has said, "When I give food to a hungry
person, I am called a saint, but when I ask why the poor are hungry, I am called
a communist!" Be careful that your well-intentioned praise of Msgr. Romero
doesn't slander the very people he was defending in the late 70's. By declaring
unfaithful and communist all those who find that liberation theology unveils to
them the true gospel, you are continuing the persecution that martyred Romero.
Also, the United States was not involved with the Sandanistas, who were
the rebels who toppled the US-backed Somoza dictatorship, but with the Contras
(anti-Sandanistas) who attempted to restore the rule of wealth and privilege,
and who defended their murder by saying they were anti-communist (and were thus
believed by fearful but gullible Americans.)
Donald Beach, OSB
St. John's Abbey
Collegeville, MN
For the article in question, see Profiles in Faith: Archbishop Oscar Romero
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February 11, 2001
volume 12, no. 42
...TAKE IT WITH A GRAIN OF SALT Feedback
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