18
May 26, 2015
T
he Valley Catholic
commentary
MAKING A DIFFERENCE - The courageous witness of Blessed Oscar Romero
By Tony Magliano
Who would have
predicted it?
Who would have
imagined on Feb. 23,
1977, the day of his
appointment as Archbishop of San Salvador, that the highly
conservative Oscar Romero – who was
suspicious of the Catholic Church’s involvement in political activism – would
die a martyr’s death for courageously
defending his people against the
murderous assaults of the Salvadoran
government, military and right-wing
death squads?
Romero’s appointment was welcomed by the government, but many
priests were not happy. They suspected
their new archbishop would insist they
cut all ties to liberation theology’s defense of the poor.
One of the priests who worked
with Romero, Father Inocencio Alas,
recalled key moments leading to the
archbishop’s dramatic conversion.
According to Alas, the archbishop
began realizing that the poor laborers
waiting for work at the coffee planta-
promoting land reform, worker unions,
tions were sleeping on the sidewalks.
and organizing communities to have a
“What can be done?” Romero asked.
Alas replied, “Look at that big house
greater voice regarding their own lives.
where the school used to be. Open it
Romero, who was deeply inspired
by Grande said, “When I looked at Ruup!” [