Running head: OSCAR ROMERO 1
Spring 15
Oscar Romero
Mahmoud Zeidan REL 317
Niagara University

Running head: OSCAR ROMERO 2
Introduction
Oscar Amulfo Romero was a Roman Catholic priest in El Salvator. Romero was a priest during the 1960s and 1970s. Oscar Romero became Archbishop of San Salvador in 1977. His role with the Roman Catholic Church continued for years after. His ties with the Roman Catholic Church extended within human rights. There were systematic acts of persecution, oppression, and human rights violations against the citizens of El Salvador by the government. The separation between church and state and the subjugation of the church to political authority led to conflict within El Salvador. Oscar Romero sparked quite a bit
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El Salvador had a small population of about five million. Oscar Romero grew up close to his father. By the time Romeo was thirteen years old his father allowed him to become an apprentice for the position as a carpenter. The apprenticeship would have led him to become a master carpenter but Oscar Romero wanted to take another path. Oscar Romero truly believed that leaving home to enter the seminary to become a Catholic priest was the position that he needed to attain. Oscar Romero studied in El Salvador as well as Rome and he was ordained in the year of 1942. Before Romero was ordained in 1942, dictatorship by the military plagued the country and over thirty thousand lives were lost. Ever since then more and more deaths were added to those thousands that were gone. Oscar Romero knew that this had to come to an end and he would need the help of the Catholic Church for more power during his stand. Later in his career in 1977 he had become the Archbishop of his country. The problem was that he realized that Rome was more concerned with keeping a good relationship with the government than the needs of the citizens of El Salvador. Romero had seen that more than sixty percent of the people in his country were landless. There had to be a place for his people who were suffering so Oscar Romero took a stand to protect the citizens and their needs to survive in El …show more content…
This was a move that was not very welcomed by the more radical elements in priesthood. He took his place as Bishop of the Diocese of Santiago de Maria in 1975. He was then named the diocese of Santiago de Maria, a poor and rural region. Then in 1977, Oscar Romero returned to the capital to succeed the aged metropolitan archbishop. Romero took a rise in ministry to prominence in the Catholic hierarchy. During this time, there was an extreme change within the Church in Latin America. Between the years of 1978 and 1979 there was an increase in the repression against the public and the church. Father Ernesto Barrera was then murdered at this time. Many other killings of leaders within the Catholic Church took place during this time. Romero noticed the truth after the killings of these priests. Oscar Romero said that “Those exemplary priest deserve great admiration...they were victims of the effort to maintain an unjust system...Neto Barrea, Rutilio Grande, Alfonso Navarro, Octavio Ortiz, and the others had great insight; they grasped reality with great clarity and
Running head: OSCAR ROMERO
Before reading this, I, like I am sure so many others, had no idea of the magnitude of injustices that can occur during these conflicts. Also, this was not very long ago, nor far away, and it speaks volumes of the differences in government ideology and politics. El Salvador is an extreme case of how a government will treat its citizens. Massacre at El Mozote truly was an eye-opener and I doubt I will soon forget it.
Hilton, Ronald. “MEXICO: The Murder of Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo (1993).” Webmaster. N.p., 6 June 2003. Web. 15 April 2014.
In the 1960s America, the pope of democratic faith, preached to the world about the evils of communism. When Marxist Salvador Allende lost by three percent in the Chilean election of 1958, the United States decided that the next election of 1964, could not be left in the hands of democracy. The United States began to work to stop Allende from becoming president. They went so far as to create projects to help train and organize so-called anti-communists among the peasants, laborers, students, and the media. Despite their efforts, in 1970 Salvador Allende was elected president through plurality. He became the first Marxist in the world to gain power in a free democratic election. Now you might ask, why would the United States be so interested in the politics of a third world country, furthermore the beliefs of one man. After all a person can only do so much, right?
Cesar Chavez was born on March 31, 1927 in a small town near Yuma, Arizona near the border. Born into a poor family, Cesar grew up in Arizona and in a small adobe home along with his parents (United Farm Workers 1). In his early life Cesar experienced a lot of injustices and saw how not only his parents, but most farm workers were being mistreated and overworked. Cesar Chavez later learned a lesson in his life about injustices that he would never be able to forget (United Farm Workers 1). Cesar would say “ the love for justice that is in us is not only the best part of our being, but is also the most true to our nature” (United Farm Workers 1).
Emiliano Zapata, born on August 8, 1879, in the village of Anenecuilco, Morelos (Mexico), Emiliano Zapata was of mestizo heritage and the son of a peasant medier, (a sharecropper or owner of a small plot of land). From the age of eighteen, after the death of his father, he had to support his mother and three sisters and managed to do so very successfully. The little farm prospered enough to allow Zapata to augment the already respectable status he had in his native village. In September of 1909, the residents of Anenecuilco elected Emiliano Zapata president of the village's "defense committee," an age-old group charged with defending the community's interests. In this position, it was Zapata's duty to represent his village's rights before the president-dictator of Mexico, Porfirio Díaz, and the governor of Morelos, Pablo Escandón. During the 1880s, Mexico had experienced a boom in sugar cane production, a development that led to the acquisition of more and more land by the hacienderos or plantation owners. Their plantations grew while whole villages disappeared and more and more medieros and other peasants lost their livelihoods or were forced to work on the haciendas. It was under these conditions that a plantation called El Hospital neighboring Zapata's village began encroaching more and more upon the small farmers' lands. This was the first conflict in which Emiliano Zapata established his reputation as a fighter and leader. He led various peaceful occupations and re-divisions of land, increasing his status and his fame to give him regional recognition.
...t years of the war started after 1980, and ended in 1992 with the Peace Treaty of Chapultepec, Mexico. This treaty did not bring the desired peace and progress to El Salvador. Instead, the fight continued in a way of political opposition without arms. The revolutionary forces became a political party that represents the rights of the workers. The right wing party, which was originally founded by D’aubuisson, stayed in power until the elections of 2009. The popular sectors of El Salvador still face extreme poverty and oppression caused by large companies. The church continues its work with the poor but in a more limited and conservative way. After 30 years of the death of Romero, the Salvadoran Church remembers him as the hero of the oppressed and the voice of the voiceless and cries on the fact that the church was never the same after the death of its major leader.
This does not, however, dismiss the reality of torture in Chile nor soften Cavanaugh’s criticisms of “distinction of planes” ecclesiologies. Church paradigms such as Maritain’s New Christendom have led Catholics in Chile and elsewhere to buy into a “devil’s bargain” wherein the Church confines itself to the social, or spiritual, realm and allows the state to dominate in the political, or temporal, realm (196). Such ecclesiologies simultaneously facilitate the Church’s disappearance as a societal body and strip the Church of any tangible ability to counteract the actions of oppressive governments. The Chilean church’s ecclesiology had real, disastrous consequences for Chileans under the Pinochet regime – consequences that perhaps could have been mitigated under a different ecclesiological
José Sanchez: Eduardo Lopez Rojas (1950 - 1980), and Jacob Vargas A very hard working, family oriented proud man who was a great role model for his children.
In El Salvador, in the late 1970’s, there was major political unrest. El Salvador had a military government, that oppressed the lower class, and tried to keep them poor. The military controlled everyone and everything in the country, and if someone opposed them, they would torture and murder the offender. The poor were fighting for their rights, but due to the militaries immense power, they labeled the poor as communists, causing others to think the country was in danger of communist influences. This caused a group known as Guerillas to rise up and fight the military. The Vatican appointed Oscar Romero, a bishop in El Salvador, to the position of Archbishop, as they believed his calm nature would prevent him from getting involved in the crisis.
Many of his students, who went on to become very successful people, continue to fight for better Latino rights today. These include; Paula Crisostomo, who became a school administrator, where she continues to fight for reform, Vicky Castro, who was elected to the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education, and Carlos Muñoz Jr., who went on to a distinguished teaching and research career at the University of California, Berkeley. Sal Castro’s courage and leadership to the students in the Walkouts provided a spark for other Latino leaders to come, including his very own students. Sal Castro should be given much of the credit for their work as leaders because he is the one that educated them about their unfair treatment. He let them know about how they were not included in the history books, even though they risked their lives in the war too. He taught them the important qualities of nonviolence and patience which they would not have learned without him. Another example of Sal Castro’s lasting influence is his ability to educate kids for the future. After he retired from being a teacher, Sal Castro went around to schools and communities to speak and educate students about the disadvantages of people of color. When he was speaking in 2012, Sal said, “Many of these problems still remain,
In order to find a copy of the newspaper to use as a clue in his investigation, Professor Laurana goes to visit the rector at Santa Anna. Towards the end of their conversation, Laurana and the rector speak about the rector’s decision to become a priest...
Religion in Latin America has always been tied closely to Catholicism because of the influence of Europeans who came to settle South America, bringing along their Catholic foundation. With the early formations of governments in Latin America, church and state were closely linked. The church had significant influence over what happened in the political realm of the countries’ relations. The case was no different for Colombia. The Catholic church has played a significant role in the history of Colombia, assuming an esteemed status in the country and exercising control over different areas of the government and public affairs, but as time passed its role in power has taken a slight downturn.
The seeds of the Guatemalan Civil War were sown in the early 1940s. Left-leaning dictator Jorge Ubico was forced to leave his post in response to general dissatisfaction. His replacement, Gen. Juan Federico Ponce Vaides, a powerful army officer, was deposed just two months later by a coup led by a junta of mid-level army officers. This government organized free elections, Guatemala's first ever, and the writer and philosopher Juan Jose Arevalo was elected president. Arelavo referred to his philosophy as "Arevalismo", a kind of Christian socialism that touted liberalism and labor reforms. Many critics of his policies believed them to be essentially communism or, as one put it, "an attempt to beguile a misguided poor people with the promise of happiness." Still, he was popular inside Guatemala and instituted a period of greater freedom than had been experienced previously.
In this novel, religion is hypocritical, beginning with the bishop not stopping to bless the town, which happened to let them down. Santiago was killed because of someone elses wrong doing, which is similar to being sacrificed for the towns sin. They also had Father Carmen do the autopsy, when he’s not a doctor so he’s not cut out for the job. This act showed disrespect to Santiago Nasar’s body because he mutilated it. Treating his body with such disrespect and honor doesn’t follow along with the Catholic religion, which means Father Carmens ways could be questions.
First, Columbians are known to be the most devoted to Catholicism of all of the Latin American Nations, which informs the reader about the importance of religion in their culture. The Catholic religion is all about the honor and has a belief that women’s virginity should be kept preserved until marriage. Unfortunately, Angela wasn’t faithful in following her religion and in turn brought shame on the entire Vicario family. Since the whole town was very religious, the Vicario brothers were pressured by society to take up the responsibility to kill the man who had dishonored their sister and the family. It was stated by the Vicario brothers, “‘We killed him openly,’ Pedro Vicario said, ‘but we’re innocent.’ ‘Perhaps before God,’ said Father Amador. ‘Before God and before men,’ Pablo said. ‘It was a matter of honor’’’ (Marquez 49). This quote connects to their religious beliefs, because they’ve “killed” someone in the public, yet they are still claiming that they are “innocent”, which tells the reader that the Vicario brothers were very religious, as stated that it was a “matter of honor”, they were confident that they’ve done the right move both “before God and before men”. Furthermore, the Vicario brothers were later put jail, and even during that time they felt no shame in killing someone in public as stated “At