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In society today, people have a basic understanding of poverty and often wish to help. This will to aid many times comes only in the form of distant gestures, such as donating money, clothing, or food. While these contributions are appreciated and needed, it is rare for people to put their own lives on hold to live in solidarity with the poor and to defend those being hurt or taken advantage of by people who hold more power or have more money. It is difficult for a person who lives a comfortable life to want to put his or her life in danger by traveling to an area where there is suffering in order to help change the situation for those in need. Oscar Romero was one person who was willing to put his life at risk to help the poor in El Salvador. …show more content…
He devoted his life to defending those who were left powerless, which in the end cost him his life.
The life and legacy of Oscar Romero provide an extraordinary example of the attitude members of the church should have in relation to aiding the impoverished and defenseless in the world today as laid out by Catholic social teaching.
Oscar Romero lived his life in dedication to his job with a focus to help in the community where he worked. The Romero Center Ministries website explains the early life of Romero. He was born in El Salvador in 1917, and when he was fourteen, he decided that he wanted to become a priest. In 1942, he received his ordination in Rome. He returned to El Salvador, specifically San Salvador, in 1977 as an archbishop (“Archbishop Oscar Romero”). A New York Times article entitled “Pope Approves Martyrdom Declaration for Oscar Romero, Slain Salvadoran Archbishop” describes the state of El Salvador when Oscar Romero was archbishop. The country was
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engaged in a horrific civil war that was being fought between the government and citizens rebelling against it. Oscar Romero worked to help those being affected by the unrest of the war and encouraged peace for the country (“Pope Approves Martyrdom”). The Romero Center Ministries website describes the conditions Romero witnessed during his time as archbishop. The same year Oscar Romero began his time as archbishop in El Salvador, a priest that he was associated with named Rutilio Grande was killed. He also noticed that the poor were not treated fairly in the country especially with the civil war going on. As a result he became aware that the officials and soldiers in his country were violent and peace was needed. Romero began to speak out for the poor and encourage peace in his community. Due to his work to achieve peace and equality for the poor, Romero made some enemies. He was killed while saying mass in 1980 (“Archbishop Oscar Romero”). Oscar Romero’s actions in his community were both brave and admirable especially in a time when he had to risk his life to do his work. Oscar Romero devoted his years as archbishop to helping the poor and powerless.
The article, “Remembering Romero: Lessons in Spiritual Activism” explains Romero’s journey in working for the poor. He originally was not so concerned with aiding those in poverty, but after experiences of working with them, he changed his mind. Romero began to believe that those in poverty, if given the opportunity, could shape their own futures (Rose). The article goes on to describe how Romero wished to change his community. He wanted to end the violence and stressed the need for peace. He explained to those around him that they must not resort to violence in order to end the violence that the military was using against them. He called for people to participate in taking action against the repression by the military. He believed that to be neutral was wrong (Rose). The “Remembering Romero: Lessons in Spiritual Activism” article goes on to show how Romero believed the church should take a role in ending the violence by quoting one of his sermons and accounting for his reasoning, “The church cannot remain silent before injustice; to remain silent is to be an accomplice. This critique emerged from Romero's awareness that he-a priest of God-had remained silent for too long” (Rose). The Romero Center Ministries website articulates that Romero used sermons to get his message across to people in his community. The website gives an example of a sermon in which he connected the suffering of the
defenseless people in El Salvador to what Jesus experienced by saying, “His message to the victims of violence was that Jesus was suffering in them. His message to the murderers was that they were crucifying Jesus when they killed others, and that even though they killed people, God still loved them” (“Archbishop Oscar Romero”). The “Pope Approves Martyrdom” article from the New York Times describes the sermon Romero gave the day before he was killed. He encouraged peace by telling soldiers that were not required to follow orders that go against the will of God. In addition, he called upon the soldiers to end their harsh treatment of the poor and powerless (“Pope Approves Martyrdom”). Through working with the poor and defenseless in El Salvador and presenting compelling sermons to his community, Oscar Romero’s teachings lived on. People caught on to what Romero called for in his lifetime and his teachings influenced his country and the world in a number of ways even after he was killed. The New York Times article, “Pope Approves Martyrdom” explains how his legacy lived in his community. Oscar Romero became a role model and was remembered as those who opposed the government’s harsh violence sought to take action (“Pope Approves Martyrdom”). The “Remembering Romero: Lessons in Spiritual Activism” article describes the inspiration Romero is to this day in El Salvador. Pictures and murals of him can be seen often throughout the country. His words and sermons are remembered and cherished (Rose). Oscar Romero’s legacy is evident in the church’s teaching of preferential option for the poor and vulnerable which is explicated by the Center for Social Concerns website. The goal of this teaching is to give the powerless and impoverished the opportunity to be recognized within their communities. The preferential option for the poor and vulnerable calls on every person to attempt to see society through the eyes of those living in poverty and to seek to help them. The expectation is that people work in solidarity to help the poor and defenseless achieve equality (“The Preferential Option”). Just as Romero encouraged the church to get involved with helping the impoverished, the website goes on to describe how the church uses preferential option for the poor and vulnerable to advocate for those in poverty. The church works to defend the poor and bring them equality in the world. It calls people to aid the poor in an attempt to bring all levels of society together (“The Preferential Option”). Oscar Romero was someone who lived out preferential option for the poor and vulnerable. He modeled the proper response to aiding those in the cycle of poverty. Romero’s work has been recognized within the church, specifically by the pope. The New York Times article, “Pope Approves Martyrdom” describes instances where the church has spoken favorably of Oscar Romero. For a number of years there was a debate on whether or not Romero should be considered a martyr. People feared that his teachings may have been too Marxist and there was questioning about if he was killed for religious or political reasons. Despite this debate, Pope Francis decided to consider him a martyr. This association allows Romero to get a step closer to becoming beatified and makes the claim that he was killed for religious reasons (“Pope Approves Martyrdom”). Romero spoke out and advocated for the poor even though it was dangerous. His call to action was not radical; he simply wanted the poor to be treated with respect and equality, an idea that is in common with Catholic social teaching. There are various similarities between Oscar Romero’s actions and the Catholic Church’s teaching on preferential option for the poor and vulnerable. An encyclical written by Pope Benedict XVI, called Caritas In Veritate, describes the’s view of the teaching of preferential option for the poor and vulnerable. Benedict claims that all people are better able to love one another if they wish good for them. He calls followers to work to ensure the common good for all people no matter what their social status is. People must be willing to work for and encourage equality among all of humanity in order for there to be true justice in the world. He raises the point that we must solve problems with food insecurity by using long-term programs, such as increasing irrigation in farm areas and encouraging rural agriculture in places where it does not currently exist (Benedict XVI). These views that the church has on encouraging programs to help people raise their own crops is similar to Oscar Romero’s belief that if the poor are provided with the proper means, they can take control of their future. Pope Benedict XVI stresses the importance of acting in charity to ensure justice by stating, “If we love others with charity, then first of all we are just towards them. Not only is justice not extraneous to charity, not only is it not an alternative or parallel path to charity: justice is inseparable from charity, and intrinsic to it” (Benedict XVI). The pope goes on to explain that one issue that causes people to get stuck in the cycle of poverty is violating dignity of work. This can come as a result of someone being denied from jobs for discriminatory reasons. In addition, not being provided with a just wage or having other workers rights ignored can cause poverty (Benedict XVI). Oscar Romero’s teachings and legacy fall right in line with what the Catholic Church teaches with preferential option for the poor and vulnerable. The life of Oscar Romero provides a great example to look to when trying to understand how the church expects its followers to treat the poor and powerless in society today. He spent his years as archbishop working to bring peace and justice to people being violently oppressed due to the conditions of a civil war. Oscar Romero believed that all people must take action to stop injustice when they see it. This is similar to the teaching in the Catholic Church known as The Option for the Poor and Vulnerable. The church calls its followers to provide justice for those in need through acts of charity and expects that people work to bring those in poverty to equality. Oscar Romero also exemplified the teaching of empowering the poor to shape their own futures by providing them with the opportunity to do so. There is a lot of suffering in the world today and the church calls all people to act in love for those who need help. It can be daunting to think of how to offer help, but looking to the lives of people like Oscar Romero can provide a great picture of how to work for equality and justice for the poor in the world.
Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez was a bishop from the Catholic Church in the Salvador. He turned out to be the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador after Luis Chavez in February of 1977. Bishop Romero was born in August 15 of 1917 and dies March 24 of 1980 in the Salvador. During his youth, he got accepted into a minor seminary in San Miguel when he was thirteen, then he was also got accepted to the national seminary in San Salvador but he got the opportunity to finish his studies at the Gregorian University in Rome where he became a Licentiate in Theology. Then Romero, stay over in Italy to finish his doctoral degree in Theology. Romero went back to El Salvador and saw the economic and social situation that the Salvadorians were going through. The government during this time was very cruel with the Salvadorians and was Marxism’s government. On his visit to Europe Romero receive an honorary doctorate, he met Pope John Paul II and expressed his feelings of what was happening in his country. Romero argued that it was very problematic to be in favor of the Salvadoran government because there is a lot of terror and assassinations. Romero was a big defendant for the right of the Salvadorans; Romero for the poor people was their voice in which he speaks for them.
Today's world is filled with both great tragedy and abundant joy. In a densely populated metropolis like New York City, on a quick walk down a street you encounter homeless people walking among the most prosperous. Unfortunately, nine times out of ten the prosperous person will trudge straight past the one in need without a second thought. A serious problem arises when this happens continually. The problem worsens when you enter a different neighborhood and the well-to-do are far from sight. Many neighborhoods are inhabited only by the most hopeless of poverty - ridden people while others downtown or across the park do not care, or are glad to be separated from them. Such is the problem in New York City today and in Mott Haven in Jonathan Kozol's Amazing Grace. I have lived in New York City all my life and I had no idea that these problems were going on so close to home. If I live about three miles away from Mott Haven and I am not aware of the situation there, then who is?
“The Singer Solution to World Poverty” by Peter Singer is a persuasive article trying to influence people to donate money to save children’s lives. Peter Singer stated, “Evolutionary psychologists tell us that human nature just isn’t sufficiently altruistic to make it plausible that many people will sacrifice so much for strangers… they would be wrong to draw moral conclusions to that fact”. First, Singer tells a story about a retired school teacher who doesn’t have extra money. Dora, the school teacher, is given a chance to make a thousand dollars by walking a homeless child to a house, in which she was given the address for. She then walks the child to the house, and then later Dora’s neighbors tell her that the child was probably killed
Oscar Romero was born on August 15, 1917 in El Salvador. He was appointed Archbishop of El Salvador on February 23, 1977. When Romero was appointed as an Archbishop many priests were disappointed, especially those openly aligning with Marxism. On 12 March 1977, Rutilio Grande, a progressive Jesuit priest and personal friend of Romero who had been creating self-reliance groups among the poor campesinos, was assassinated for what he was doing to help out the poor people in the community. His death had a profound impact on Romero, who later stated, "When I looked at Rutilio lying there dead I thought, 'If they have killed him for doing what he did, then I too have to walk the same path'".
Beginning in the late 1970s Liberation Theology, Marxism, and U.S. Cold War policy collided in El Salvador culminating in a civil war that lasted over a decade and ultimately produced democratic political institutions that persist into the 21st century. Despite the prejudices against the church on behalf of government and media organizations in the U.S. and El Salvador, religious actors fought for human rights and the implementation of democratic institutions throughout the period of conflict. The Salvadoran Civil War, which occurred in the context of the Cold War, was one of the bloodiest and longest events in the history of Latin America after the Guatemalan Civil War. The conflict lasted from 1979 to 1992, left approximately 75,000 people dead, and a country in ashes. The conflict started after the fraudulent elections of the Coronel Arturo Armando Molina (1972), who focused his term on repressing the communist political parties that wanted to work for a social reform. This aroused the anger of the popular sectors, which started to organize groups and demonstrations demanding fair election and improvement of social conditions. The government responded to their demands with savage violence, focusing primarily on the oppression of campesinos because they were the ones who supported the revolutionary leftist forces. These actions alienated the Salvadoran population even more and caused many people in the Catholic Church to start denouncing the government’s actions. Thus, as the Civil War started to rise, the church started to radicalize and to and spoke up against the government’s actions. One of its most fervent advocates was Monsignor Oscar Arnulfo Romero, who during his short time as the Archbishop of San Salvador manifested hi...
There are many people that can’t have what you do. When you sit there and think about how poor you are and how much you don’t have you should really be thinking of the people that have even less. Linda Sue Parks was one of the people that did and she wrote a book called A Long Walk to Water which is a true story. In the novel there is a young boy named Salva Dut. Salva Dut was an 11 year old boy who was separated from his family because of a school shooting. This happened in Sudan which is now South Sudan because of war. In hopes that he finds his family again he will walk and walk everyday. Salva also faces many challenging things while he’s walking such as finding food and water, avoiding gunmen, and wild animals. Salva had a lot of accomplishments on his way too like leading 1500 lost boys of Sudan to a refugee camp by the Gilo River, then he goes to America seven years later and lives with a family in New York, and he finds his father many years later and starts a group called Water
In the essay “Spare Change”, the author, Teresa Zsuaffa, illustrates how the wealthy don’t treat people facing poverty with kindness and generosity, but in turn pass demeaning glares and degrading gestures, when not busy avoiding eye contact. She does so by writing an emotional experience, using imagery and personification whenever possible to get to the reader’s heart. Quite similarly, Nick Saul writes, in the essay “The Hunger Game”, about how the wealthy and people of social and political power such as “[the community’s] elected representatives” (Saul, 2013, p. 357) leave the problem of hunger on the shoulders of the foodbanks because they believe “feeding the hungry is already checked off [the government’s] collective to-do list” (Saul,
By the killing and torturing of people Romero gets very angry and says STOP! In one scene while in prison listening to a priest get tortured, he doesn’t understand why one human being would do this to another. We are all human and why should their life be taken away if they have done nothing. The Church in this movie are people very strong in their faith and stand up for what they believe in. For example, When the people of one city walk right into a church that has been taken over by the military.
...cs of the government, a government portrayed in the film as being corrupt and cruel towards its people. With his immense influence in El Salvador, he was able to encourage the church and its people to fight for justice, equality, and human rights for all. His and the churches actions displayed a sense of liberation theology. They saw the situation, assessed it, and then judged what needed to be done. The actions that the church raised served as critical actions towards the peoples struggle for what is right, and although justice was not fully fulfilled the footstones were set for a great upcoming. The church along with Romero served as a great authority towards bringing Gods kingdom here on earth. The struggle for social justice was a critical factor of how the church is a community of all people, and how everyone deserves an equal potential at life without obstacles.
In my final point, Oscar Romero shows his ability and willingness to serve. Oscar showed his willingness to serve at a young age, he was so willing that after two years of being bishop, he was so horrified at the amount of people dying each day he demanded that the government investigate the murders. He even convinced five radio stations to broadcast his Sunday mass so people
Oscar demanded a peace that could only be found by ensuring people had access to basic needs and their rights upheld. He raised awareness globally by guaranteeing people had access to their basic needs and that their rights were supported. In 1979 the number of people being killed rose to more than 3000 per month. He has nothing left to offer his people except faith and hope. He did this by continuing to use radio broadcast of his Sunday sermons to tell people what was going on throughout the country to talk about the role of the church and to offer his listeners hope that they would not suffer and die in vain. However on the 24th of March in 1980, when Oscar was 63 years old, he Oscar Romero was shot and died while during mass. More than 250,000
Father Pedro Arrupe was truly a man of God, born to lead the Jesuit’s to greatness. Born in Bilbao, Spain, he initially felt called to set the world ablaze through medicine. He undertook medical training for a number of years, but decided his true calling lay with the Jesuits, joining in 1927. He was unable to pursue his studies in Spain as the Republican government had expelled the Order. This did not deter him, as he was unwavering in his pursuit of priesthood; he undertook his studies in the Netherlands and Belgium. Soon, Pedro was ordained and well on his way to finding his place in the Order. The Society sent him to The United States to study Medical Ethics, after which he set out to spread the faith to Japan. In 1958, Father Arrupe was appointed the first Jesuit provincial for Japan, a position he held until being elected Father General in 1965. His work in Japan truly moulded his character and prepared him for his future role as Superior General. In 1965, Father Arrupe found his final role in Jesuits; he was elected Superior General of the Order. Wit guidance from the Lord, Arrupe served the Order for eighteen years, sparking a change in the Society the immense that he is seen by many to be the second founder of the Jesuits. Sadly, this brilliant leader was forced to resign due to his waning health.
Peter Singer said; “If it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought, morally, to do it” (Famine, Affluence, and Morality). As human beings, we have a moral compulsion to help other people, despite the verity that they may be strangers, especially when whatever type of aid we may render can in no approach have a more significant consequence on our own life.
Pedro de Alvarado was a Spanish conquistador who explored El Salvador in 1524. In September of 182, El Salvador won independence from Spain and
I’ve grown up in a country where ignoring the levels of poverty and the lack of justice is somehow impossible. Today poverty is one of the most complex issues the world is facing. I’ve been witness to hundreds of people that have been trying to improve the situations in Colombia. Most of those people are worldwide known and are international leaders, such as Shakira, Falcao, Alvaro Uribe. I’ve collaborated with the community who has a lack of resources in some occasions. Every year my family will donate clothes and some money to a foundation that will help people with needs. I helped with the cleaning of an old house that the school is planning on turning into a school for people with little resources in the region. Also last year I had the opportunity to go to a poor region outside of Antioquia. We were a group of girls lead by some nuns, and the purpose was to gather people from all town to spend the afternoons with us. We realized activities for people of all ages, it was an stupendous experience. I wish I could give more to the world and especially to the countries that are really being affected by poverty issues. Being able to share time and experiences with people from different social classes can really open your mind. I have no doubt about my country’s cultural wealth and the impro...