“Liberation Theology” A school of theology, especially prevalent in the Roman Catholic Church in Latin America, that finds in the Gospel a call to free people from political, social, and material oppression. (http://www.dictionary.com)

Two inescapable facts confronted Latin American pastors in the latter half of this 20th century: that most of their parishioners lived in grinding, miserable poverty and that the Church represented the only viable community organization in their world. Out of this awareness came a new understanding of the very meaning of the Church's work. The movement that came to be called “Liberation Theology” began with the awareness that it is blasphemous to care for people's souls while ignoring their needs for food, shelter and human dignity. As Jesus participated in the suffering of the poor, and proclaimed to them the good news of justice and freedom, so must today's church engage in the struggle for justice in this world.

Oscar Romero, Archbishop of El Salvador, had the courage to live the teaching of Jesus, even though this meant alienating the rich and powerful who oppressed, tortured, murdered,

Romero was known as conservative and cautious, although he was sensitive to the suffering of the poor in his diocese and condemned the injustice of their plight. After having found some information on Romero, I do not think his election as archbishop was welcomed by the oppressed people of his country. In fact, according to various sources (http://www.silk.net/RelEd/romero.htm) most clergy men of contemporary El Salvador were of the opinion that “We all thought we faced a very bleak future.” Shortly after his installation as archbishop in February 1977, his Jesuit friend Rutilio Grande, who helped build base Christian communities in rural areas, was murdered. Many of his friends of this time said that this tragedy changed his life radically. From that day he moved into the world of the poor whom he found to be “the place of God's revelation in history.” (http://www.silk.net/RelEd/romero.htm)

This movie portrays the story of a quiet, scholarly man who stood in the gap between the machine of dehumanizing globalization and the peasant people of El Salvador. We watch him wrestle with discovering an authentic Christian response to the injustices and oppression prevalent in El Salvador. We see him reprimand all those who would practice violence, whether as military authority, the El Salvadorian rebels, or institutionalized violence that robs people of their humanity and ability to feed their families.

In choosing the poor, Romero did not turn his back on the wealthy, the government, and the military. He called for their conversion. He spoke of them as his “dear brothers and sisters.” He pleaded with “those of you who hate me, who think I am preaching violence, who defame me and know it isn't true, you that have hands stained with murder, with torture, with atrocity, with injustice - be converted. I love you deeply.”

Some topics in this essay:
El Salvadorian, El Salvador, Vatican Gospel, Rutilio Grande, Salvador's Catholics, Latin American, Roman Catholic, Church Church, Jesus Romero, America Gospel, el salvador, “liberation theology”, world poor, structural institutional powers, people el, catholic church, roman catholic, vatican gospel, structural institutional, suffering poor, institutional powers produced, people el salvador, institutional powers,