Assassinated Archbishop’s work continues to inspire Salvadorians in, of all places, Perth
By Bridget Spinks
A Mass for an Archbishop murdered in El Salvador 30 years ago drew 200 Perth Catholics to St Mary’s Cathedral on 26 March.
The commemorative Mass was to remember the martyrdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero who served as Archbishop of San Salvador from 1977 to his death in 1980.
Fr Geronimo Flamenco, who was ordained to the diocese of Perth in June last year, was six years old when Salvadorian Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero was murdered.
"For me, as a Salvadorian, he was the biggest hero in the Catholic Church in El Salvadorian history," Fr Flamenco said.
Fr Flamenco remembers the night it happened. His father took him and his six siblings to the mountains to sleep in an effort to avoid possible military assassinations. "But the military came from the mountains,” he said and he and his family had to turn around and run back.
That night eight people in his village were assassinated, including a pregnant woman. It’s something he’ll never forget, he said.
On that same night, 30 years ago, 24 March 1980, Archbishop Romero was murdered while saying Mass in the Chapel of Divine Providence Hospital in San Salvador.
The day before, when the prelate was celebrating Mass for the fifth Sunday of Lent on 23 March 1980, his homily as usual was heard on the radio station YSAX in El Salvador and on those in the neighbouring Latin American countries of Honduras and Nicaragua via Radionoticias del Continente.
“Today, El Salvador is living its own exodus. Today, we are passing toward our liberation through a desert strewn with bodies and where anguish and pain are devastating us. Many suffer the temptation of those who walked with Moses, wanting to turn back and not work together … But one thing is certain: we are firmly anchored in the heart and the faith of Jesus Christ, the God of history,” Archbishop Romero said during the homily.
He also detailed by name those who had been captured and killed including the campesinos (peasants).
In closing, he addressed the army’s enlisted men, the ranks of the Guardia Nacional and the police. Archbishop Romero reminded them that they were killing their “own campesino brothers and sisters”.
“Before an order to kill that a man may give, God’s law must prevail: Thou shalt not kill! No soldier is obliged to obey an order that is against the law of God,” he said.
“In the name of God, and in the name of this suffering people, whose laments rise to heaven each day more tumultuous, I beg you, I beseech you, I order you in the name of God: Stop the Repression!”
Archbishop Romero was murdered the following day while saying Mass by a single shot.
In a tell-all interview with an online newspaper based in San Salvador, ElFaro.net, details of how the murder was orchestrated 30 years ago have come to light. Captain Álvaro Rafael Saravia who “participated” in the murder agreed to be interviewed by journalist Carlos Dada.
But it wasn’t Saravia who fired the shot; it was “An indio, one of our own. He’s still out there somewhere”, Saravia is quoted as saying.
These revelations were published in El Salvador on Elfaro.net, the day after the incumbent President, Mauricio Funes, apologised on behalf of the state for Romero’s death.
On 24 March 2010, President Funes also unveiled a mural at El Salvador’s international airport in honour of the Archbishop.
But the revelation of Saravia’s involvement is nothing new for Carlos Cerna, a Salvadorian who settled in Perth after migrating from El Salvador at the height of the civil war in 1989.
“That’s a well known fact that he [Saravia] was part of the same team that was doing the high level assassinations,” he said.
Likewise, Mr Cerna said that the Presidential apology from the newly elected government is “just a gesture”.
“We feel that that’s not what the country needs; that’s not going to heal the country. That’s not justice; it’s just a gesture from the government. I’m not sure what the government’s aim was. The best way is to find the truth about the assassinations,” Mr Cerna said.
“The apology is just a way of diverting attention. The new government promised to find out the truth and they’re not doing it … The [1993] amnesty law needs to be lifted. The case of Romero hasn’t been tried in court – only the UN Truth Commission,” he said.
Carlos Cerna was 17 when Archbishop Romero was killed and was in the parish of Santa Lucia in Ilo Pango.
“Everyone was crying … there was the feeling of dismay, hopelessness and anger of course,” he said.
“For young people like us, he taught us so much of Christianity. A couple of friends became Catholic because of him.”
Five years ago, Auxiliary Bishop Gregorio Rosa Chavez visited Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney and spoke about Proyecto Dos Mil (Project 2000) which he founded in 1999; a project which “offers answers to the deep needs of young people” in El Salvador through education, pastoral and social assistance.
Inspired by the prelate’s visit, Carlos Cerna and his wife along with four other families started collaborating with Monsignor Chavez and founded a local branch to the project, called “Project 2000 Perth Inc”.
Any funds raised in Perth go towards Proyecto Dos Mil and Colegio San Francisco (St Francis College) to provide computer and carpentry workshops as well as towards helping rebuild huts in shantytowns.
Overcoming the spatial distance, Carlos Cerna said he wants to “send them the message that they’re not alone”.
“In a little way we’re trying to help the poor in El Salvador; there’s very little opportunity for them,” he said.
Project 2000 Perth Inc is also supporting the “Romero Vive” campaign being coordinated by the Salvadoran American National Network, which is calling for President Mauricio Funes to name the airport “International Airport of Mons. Oscar Arnulfo Romero”.
Poverty, an injustice, continues to exist in El Salvador today and it’s the very problem that Romero was denouncing, Carlos Cerna said.
“Becoming a saint would be recognition of his sacrifice; but continuing his work is the best thing we can do to honour his memory,” Mr Cerna said.
In 1983, not long after Romero was murdered, Pope John Paul II visited El Salvador and prayed at Archbishop Romero’s tomb.
In 1992, Archbishop Rivera y Damas received Geronimo Flamenco into the seminary of San Jose de la Montaña, the same seminary where Archbishop Romero had studied philosophy. This was to be the first of 13 years that Geronimo Flamenco would spend studying before becoming a priest. He spent ten years studying in two seminaries and three years studying law at the Universidad Centroamericana “José Simeón Cañas” (UCA).
While in the seminary of San Jose de la Montaña, Fr Flamenco was taught by Archbishop Romero’s successor, Archbishop Rivera y Damas, who he said “inspired me in the service of being a shepherd”.
“For me, the service of the priesthood is a gift from God to serve the Christian community,” Fr Flamenco said.
“I have great admiration for Father Romero; he was a great hero in our time but my model is Jesus Christ. Sometimes when we trust humans, we make mistakes. But when we trust in God, he never lets you down because he’s God. He’s always with us. Jesus Christ is the great model for my priesthood.”
Archbishop Oscar Romero has not yet been canonised. In 2005, his cause passed the first phase of verification.
For more information about Archbishop Romero (including homily transcripts and historic photos) go to: http://www.romerotrust.org.uk