Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador: Who is he and what can he teach us about spiritual freedom?

We will meet from 7:00 - 8:15pm on Wednesday, January 13th.  Please RSVP to Meghan Robinson to receive the Zoom link for the meeting.

In 1977, Oscar Romero was selected as Archbishop of San Salvador.  No one could have predicted that in three short years he would be renowned as the outstanding embodiment of the prophetic church, a "voice for the voiceless," or, as one theologian called him, "a gospel for El Salvador." 

From once a timid and conventional cleric, there emerged a fearless and outspoken champion of justice.  His weekly sermons, broadcast by radio throughout the country, featured an inventory of the week's violations of human rights, casting the glaring light of the Gospel on the realities of the day.  

The church in El Salvador was not the first church to suffer persecution.  The anomaly was that here the persecutors dared to call themselves Christians.  Their victims did not die simply for clinging to the faith, but for clinging, like Jesus to the poor. For Romero, the church's option for the poor was not just a matter of pastoral priorities.  It was a defining characteristic of Christian faith:  "A church that does not unite itself to the poor in order to denounce from the place of the poor the injustice committed against them is not truly the Church of Jesus Christ," he wrote. 

Once his course was set, Romero followed his path with courageous consistency. Privately he acknowledged his fears and loneliness, especially the pain he felt from the opposition. At the same time he seemed to draw strength and courage from the poor campesinos, who embraced him with affection and understanding.  "With this people," he said, "it is not hard to be a good shepherd."

-excerpted from "All Saints" Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for our time, by Robert Ellsberg.

After we learn about Oscar Romero we will reflect on some questions such as these:

-What events/experiences impact us the most during our journey of faith? 
-How does conversion/transformation take place? 
-What is spiritual freedom? 
-How can interacting with those who have had very different life experiences influence our own faith life?
-How do we even go about cultivating the freedom we need in order to follow God "in all things"?