St. Oscar Romero, Pray for Us

October 14 was a significant day for Vatican-watchers, Catholics, the long-suffering people of El Salvador, and people of all religious faiths or none who have been inspired by the life, words, courageous witness, and ultimate martyrdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero. That day, Archbishop Romero was finally formally proclaimed a saint and martyr by the Catholic Church in a canonization Mass presided over by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square.

Romero, a native of El Salvador, was infamously assassinated in 1980 while celebrating Mass. He was brutally gunned down by armed assailants in the chapel where he was performing the most sacred rites of his priesthood and his faith. These assassins were ordered to murder Romero by right-wing extremists who had gained political power in the country. The extremists hated him and felt threatened and challenged by him, because his convictions led him to use his moral authority as a bishop to denounce the violence and terrorism that the Salvadoran government had been inflicting on his beloved people, especially the poor and politically powerless who could not defend themselves from it.

Romero has been much on my mind these past few weeks, and not just because of the high drama of his long-awaited canonization. It strikes me that it is a little spooky that Romero’s canonization has finally, coincidentally happened during a time when politically motivated hatred and violence, right-wing extremism, and even fascism are re-surging in many places in our troubled world, including—perhaps of most concern—the U.S.

When you read this it will be Election Day in the U.S. — November 6. Right now as I write it is November 5 and I am finishing up this article in between political campaign activities. As soon as a write my last word and send this off I will be going out into a neighborhood in Allentown, Pennsylvania to knock on doors and speak to voters on their doorsteps about the election and their voting choices tomorrow — “encountering people where they are,” to borrow a popular Jesuit touchstone.

Between the day of Romero’s canonization and Election Day we have experienced politically and racially motivated violence and evil in the United States.  Since 2016, we have had to suffer emboldened actual Nazis, fascists, and white supremacists marching openly in our streets and perpetrating domestic terrorism against groups they target, almost with impunity.

Photo Credit: Photo by JARED WICKERHAM/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock 
A man takes a moment at each of the Star of David memorials with the names of the 11 people who were killed at the Tree of Life synagogue two days after a mass shooting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Last night, I was at a Get Out The Vote rally at which former Vice President Joe Biden—himself a devout Catholic—was the keynote speaker. He brought home the gravity of the times we are living in when he pointed out that within just one single week in this suffering country we have had to face, as he put it, “pipe bombs sent to me and my friends that my granddaughters could have picked up.” (He was referencing the bomber who sent bombs in the mail to prominent Democrats whom the President has routinely attacked by proclaiming them his “enemies” to his over-zealous followers). He also mentioned that in that same week of terror, two black grandparents were murdered by a white stranger in a grocery store in Kentucky solely because of the color of their skin. And, of course, Biden spoke of the horror of 11 faithful Jews being massacred at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh while they were at worship. Eleven people martyred while worshipping their God and being with their people—just as Romero was martyred worshipping with his people on his altar in El Salvador all those years ago. Still, the blood of martyrs is spilled and cries out to us from where it falls.

It is partly because of misguided and violent politics on the part of those who hated him that Romero was slain. Sadly, now it is our burden and responsibility to be living through a similar time in the life of our own country. People are being targeted for violence or hatred because of their politics or their opposition to political powers which they see as immoral and which their conscience tells them they must resist. As I mentioned above, the last few weeks have seen those who identify and lead as Democrats targeted for domestic terrorism. I am deeply affiliated with the Democratic Party because my personal political convictions have always led me there. In the past I worked as a professional through half a dozen election cycles and now I am in public service on the staff of a Democratic elected official who I esteem greatly. I am in my 30s and I have a lot more work I want to do in this life to make things better for our people, and I have a lot more love to give.

More importantly, for me, three-quarters of my friends and loved ones and colleagues are Democratic elected officials, candidates, campaign staffers, volunteer activists, and their families. My heart aches with concern knowing that they are being put at risk by this toxic political environment . But, in spite of any risk, we must and do persevere and persist. I do not fear the risk anymore. Instead, it makes me angry. It makes me sad. And it makes me want to defeat such hatred so that my loved ones and I can hold our convictions and serve our country and each other in greater safety in less violent and dangerous days to come.

Romero knew he was putting himself at risk by using his platform and his power to speak for the powerless people who were being targeted by violent partisans infiltrating the government in his time and place. He did it anyway. He persisted and persevered in spite of the risk, knowing he was putting himself in danger. As Romero so strikingly and poignantly said himself: “I have often been threatened with death. If they kill me, I shall arise in the Salvadoran people.”

It is imperative and critical that we follow Romero’s example and not let fear win out or silence us, not even if it means, God protect us, persevering until the very last.

So, at this politically fraught moment in our time, we can ask now-Saint Archbishop Oscar Romero to pray for us, to pray for our protection, because he knows very well the difficulties and crises under which we labor now, having lived through and suffered through them himself.

May we have a peaceful Election Day in America today, one in which people of all political parties will be kept safe from the threat of violence and hateful rhetoric which we have experienced too much of in this country of late. And tomorrow, may we get to work stopping it.