El Salvador: Celebrating Oscar Romero’s Centenary

Romero Cross

This Romero Centenary Year is a time to remember and to cherish the life, ministry and martyrdom of a valiant and prophetic contemporary pastor. As we wait confidently for the announcement of his canonisation, Archbishop Romero remains a riveting inspiration for Christians in the 21st century, especially for those striving to become genuine missionary disciples, in the way that Pope Francis propounds, with compassion and mercy as our watchwords. Romero is a very special icon for the Ignatian family, striving to live ever more authentically that commitment, made over 40 years ago, to “…the service of faith, of which the promotion of justice is an absolute requirement. For reconciliation with God demands the reconciliation of people with one another.” Oscar Romero gave his life in unequivocal obedience to that same mandate.

Key Moments

Romero was born on the Feast of the Assumption, August 15th 1917, in the small town of Ciudad Barrios in El Salvador – the deeply Catholic country in Central America named after Christ the Saviour. In 1977, Romero became metropolitan archbishop of the capital city, San Salvador. Three years after his appointment, on March 24th 1980, as he celebrated Mass, he was assassinated at the altar by a death squad linked to the security forces.

Two years ago, on May 23rd 2015, he was beatified, acclaimed as a martyr of the Church, killed out of hatred of the faith – shockingly, killed by people describing themselves as Catholics and Christians.

Oscar Romero’s ministry as archbishop was a paradigm example of a faith that does justice. He remained close to the poor, and became their fearless advocate. In his preaching and teaching, he opened up the scriptures and presented them as truly Good News to the Christian communities, in the midst of poverty and oppression. Each Sunday he recounted the bad news of the week - he listed the atrocities committed, named the victims and the perpetrators and sought redress; and he criticised the grotesque accumulation of wealth by landowners whilst peasant families went hungry. To the disgust of the oligarchy, Romero turned into the voice of the voiceless poor.

With every fibre of his being, Romero sought to prevent the civil war that was looming. He denounced both the repressive violence of the security forces and the assassinations carried out by leftist guerrillas. He demanded economic and social justice as the indispensable basis for a durable peace in El Salvador.

Preaching on the eve of his murder, Romero tackled the thorny question of what ordinary soldiers should do when ordered to kill and massacre: “…. Before an order to kill that a man may give, God’s law must prevail: Thou shalt not kill! No soldier is obliged to obey an order against the law of God…. It is time to obey your consciences rather than the orders of sin. In the name of God, therefore and in the name of this suffering people, I beg you, I beseech you, I order you in the name of God: Stop the repression.”

He had pronounced his own death sentence. The next day, with a single marksman’s bullet, Archbishop Romero was taken from us.

Soon afterwards, Bishop Pedro Casaldaliga wrote a beautiful poem with the closing line:

San Romero of America, our shepherd and martyr: nobody will silence your last homily!

EVENTS

Centenary Mass – All Welcome

On Saturday 12 August, just before Romero’s 100th birthday, there will be a Centenary Mass in St George’s Cathedral, Southwark, celebrated by Archbishop Peter Smith. The Postulator of Romero’s Canonisation Cause, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, will travel from Rome to preach. During the Mass, a new hymn, ‘God, You Raise Up True Disciples’, specially commissioned for the Centenary from composer Chris Olding, will be sung.

The hymn is available on the Romero Trust website: www.romerotrust.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Romero%20Hymn%20Study%20Edition.pdf Listen to the tune on https://soundcloud.

Romero Evensong – Book your ticket

On Saturday 23 September, that declaration of Dom Pedro will be underlined in Westminster Abbey at a Special Evensong to celebrate Romero’s Centenary. The Service will include the choir singing an anthem, commissioned for the occasion from composer James MacMillan, which draws on those closing words of the last homily, intermingled with verses from Psalm 31. Cardinal Nichols will take part and the former archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, will preach. Westminster Abbey placed a statue of Archbishop Romero over the West Door back in 1998, a testimony to the esteem in which the Anglican Communion holds Oscar Romero. It constituted, if you like, a beautiful Anglican ‘canonisation’ at a time when Romero’s Cause was paralysed in Rome.

Please book on Eventbrite: Use this link: goo.gl/BXAvnF. It will take you to: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/evensong-to-commemorate-the-centenary-of-the-birth-of-blessed-oscar-romero-tickets-35349736012

Romero Lecture 2017: Gustavo Gutiérrez

For the final event of this Romero Centenary Year, we are delighted that the 'Father of Liberation Theology', Fr Gustavo Gutiérrez, is joining us from Peru. This inspirational theologian and Dominican priest will share of his vast knowledge and experience of living out the option for the poor. The lecture is in conjunction with the Las Casas Institute at Blackfriars, Oxford. It will take place on Thursday, 30 November 2017 at 5pm. Venue tbc. Please check back here for more information, and follow us on Twitter @RomeroTrust for the latest information.

Pilgrimage to El Salvador

The Archbishop Romero Trust is organising its third pilgrimage to El Salvador. It will take place 13-25 November 2017 and bookings are now open. Over eleven days the pilgrimage will give the opportunity to visit the “holy places” associated with Blessed Oscar Romero and the martyrs of El Salvador, and to meet with people who lived through the troubled times and are now working to rebuild their society and country. Clare Dixon, Julian Filochowski and Bishop John Rawsthorne, together with Anthony Coles, will accompany the pilgrims; and the group will not exceed 30 persons in all. We are booked to stay in the Centro Loyola in San Salvador run by the Central American Jesuit Province. The centre provides guest accommodation in simple furnished en-suite single and twin-bedded rooms.

The cost of the pilgrimage will be £1699 per person inclusive of flights to and from London, accommodation, meals and the full programme in El Salvador – but may have to be adjusted in the event of fluctuations in the dollar-sterling exchange rate. For further information and to make a booking or to reserve a place on the pilgrimage please contact: Anthony Coles, 18 Maresfield Gardens, London NW3 5SX. Tel: 020 7431 3414 Fax: 020 7794 7803 Email: arctc@btinternet.com

Link: www.romerotrust.org.uk/