President Obama Visits Grave Of Oscar Romero [cross-post]

President Obama Visits Grave Of Oscar Romero:

In a stunning tribute President Obama tonight visited the grave of Archbishop Oscar Romero, the martyred "Bishop of the Poor" who served the people of El Salvador until he was assassinated. The LA Times reports:

Revered in much of the region, the cleric was slain in 1980 by death squads working for the side in El Salvador's civil war that the U.S. government came to support against leftist guerrillas.

On the first visit by a U.S. president to Romero's tomb, Obama was accompanied by Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes, elected in 2009 as the candidate representing those guerrillas, now recast as a political party.

U.S Catholic offers a biograhical sketch of this remarkable man:

In 1980, in the midst of a U.S. funded war the UN Truth Commission called genocidal, the soon-to-be-assassinated Archbishop Oscar Romero promised history that life, not death, would have the last word. "I do not believe in death without resurrection," he said. "If they kill me, I will be resurrected in the Salvadoran people."

On each anniversary of his death, the people will march through the streets carrying that promise printed on thousands of banners. Mothers will make pupusas (thick tortillas with beans) at 5 a.m., pack them, and prepare the children for a two-to-four hour ride or walk to the city to remember the gentle man they called Monseñor.

Oscar Romero gave his last homily on March 24. Moments before a sharpshooter felled him, reflecting on scripture, he said, "One must not love oneself so much, as to avoid getting involved in the risks of life that history demands of us, and those that fend off danger will lose their lives." The homily, however, that sealed his fate took place the day before when he took the terrifying step of publicly confronting the military.

Romero begged for international intervention. He was alone. The people were alone. In 1980 the war claimed the lives of 3,000 per month, with cadavers clogging the streams, and tortured bodies thrown in garbage dumps and the streets of the capitol weekly. With one exception, all the Salvadoran bishops turned their backs on him, going so far as to send a secret document to Rome reporting him, accusing him of being "politicized" and of seeking popularity.

Unlike them, Romero had refused to ever attend a government function until the repression of the people was stopped. He kept that promise winning him the enmity of the government and military, and an astonishing love of the poor majority.

Romero was a surprise in history. The poor never expected him to take their side and the elites of church and state felt betrayed. He was a compromise candidate elected to head the bishop's episcopacy by conservative fellow bishops. He was predictable, an orthodox, pious bookworm who was known to criticize the progressive liberation theology clergy so aligned with the impoverished farmers seeking land reform. But an event would take place within three weeks of his election that would transform the ascetic and timid Romero.

The new archbishop's first priest, Rutilio Grande, was ambushed and killed along with two parishioners. Grande was a target because he defended the peasant's rights to organize farm cooperatives. He said that the dogs of the big landowners ate better food than the campesino children whose fathers worked their fields.

The night Romero drove out of the capitol to Paisnal to view Grande's body and the old man and seven year old who were killed with him, marked his change. In a packed country church Romero encountered the silent endurance of peasants who were facing rising terror. Their eyes asked the question only he could answer: Will you stand with us as Rutilio did? Romero's "yes" was in deeds. The peasants had asked for a good shepherd and that night they received one.

For too long the United States supported a series of brutal dictators in Central America. Sadly, our nation supported those who murdered nuns and priests who preached a message of God's liberation, and civilians by the tens of thousands. President Obama's visit tonight to the grave of Oscar Romero is a stunning display of reconciliation. I cannot imagine another president making a similar gesture.

The Rev. Chuck Currie is a United Church of Christ (UCC) minister in Portland, Oregon who is well regarded for pastoral ministry, advocacy on issues related to homelessness, housing and health care, and as a writer and preacher. 

Hypocrisy of War [cross-post]

The Hypocrisy of War

by Jim Wallis 03-22-2011

The U.S. just started another war. We’re good at starting wars. We’re not good at ending them, but we start them really well. They say this is for “humanitarian” reasons.  Aren’t they all? But we still haven’t intervened in arguably the clearest humanitarian crisis: Darfur. We’re not defending civilians against brutal attacks in Bahrain or Yemen. And we didn’t even care about democracy in Egypt until youthful, democratic protesters forced us to restate our values.  Moammar Gadhafi is crazy, and brutal, and dangerous.  But the U.S. has known many dictators like that and has supported them faithfully for years, as long as they are compliant with our interests.  But when their craziness makes them no longer compliant, we go to war against them for the humanitarian cause of protecting their people. Right.

Oh, and then there’s oil.  Darfur doesn’t have any. Bahrain does, along with a huge U.S. naval base.  And the Saudis, who have come in to crush the democratic protests in Bahrain for their good friends in the royal family, have all the oil.  Obviously, no humanitarian concerns there.  It’s amazing how consistent U.S. foreign policy is from administration to administration, and how little changes when we elect a new president.

Then there’s the cost. We’re fighting to protect poor and low-income people against draconian budget cuts, but there is apparently more than enough money for another war.  In just the first night of attacks, 112 cruise missiles were launched at Libya. Each one costs approximately $1 million, so there was $112 million of destruction in one night . The National Journal quoted an estimate that the ultimate costs could “easily pass the $1 billion mark.”  But we can afford that — we always can for war.

The Republican deficit hawks seem unconcerned about the cost of war. They never seem to worry about that kind of spending.  They’re busy cutting budgets and deficits by slashing malaria-preventing bed nets, nutrition programs for women and infants, Head Start for children, Pell Grants for college students, and community health centers.  The true priorities of this country have never been clearer. That’s a consistent pattern too.

We’ve been asking “What Would Jesus Cut?”  Maybe he’d start with cruise missiles.

Jim Wallis is the author of Rediscovering Values: A Guide for Economic and Moral Recovery, and CEO of Sojourners. He blogs atwww.godspolitics.com. Follow Jim on Twitter @JimWallis.