Wales: Churches celebrate 100th birthday of Blessed Oscar Romero

Romero display

Churches together in Wales (CYTUN) organised a celebration for Blessed Oscar Romero in Mold St David’s parish yesterday.

In March Bishop Peter Brignall welcomed the Archbishop Oscar Romero Trust into the Diocese of Wrexham. The deeply moving talk by Martha Zechmeister CJ on Blessed Oscar Romero and the impact of his life and sacrifice on our own personal discipleship, but also the church as a whole, inspired us all.

Following on from a diocesan gathering in June a small group of parishioners in St David’s Mold, organised a special celebration for the 100th birthday of the Archbishop of El Salvador, assassinated in 1980 for speaking up for the poor.

A short talk was given after Mass on Sunday, with the invitation to watch a superb video by the Romero Trust. Fairtrade roses and specially made bookmarks were handed out to every parishioner.

The hall was decorated with bright colours and garden flowers, fairtrade tea and coffee was served with cakes, following recipes from the 'Global Bakery Book' of the New Internationalist (ISBN 978-1-78026-1), including a recipe said to be one of Romero’s favourite cakes, a sweet cake, containing savoury hard cheese.

This simple to come together was even more precious as we welcomed members of other parishes and denominations from CYTUN. Parishioners were also told about a Welsh language song to celebrate Blessed Oscar Romero, which can also be found on the Romero Trust Website.

The Parish of St David’s has followed the CAFOD Parish scheme connect2 for many years. After engaging with CAFOD supported projects in Brazil, the parish will now follow the lives of communities in El Salvador.

In 2013 the St. David’s, Mold had a visit from members of the village of Puentecitos, El Salvador. See: https://blog.cafod.org.uk/tag/connect2-el-salvador/

Julia and Fidel talked to the children from the primary school about their community and their daily joys and struggles. The following months will help us to catch up with news from Puentecitos.

The event raised interest, awareness and vital funds for the Romero Trust, as we vouched on the day of Martha’s talk.

We would like to emphasis again the importance of high quality speakers and partners of the global south to visit our small parishes in North Wales. The direct experience and personal exchange is weaving us all together in the global network of faith, justice and peace.

Diolch yn Fawr – thank you.