I woke up this morning with the thought that I just can't do "the passion" this year - I can't help but want my church to do it Romero's way - to have us all crying out for the passion happening in real-world 2025. But sadly, my parish won't do it that way.... I really needed these words today.
Gerry, I am so deeply sorry. I wish every parish were crying out too. Please know that you are not alone. If I can help at all with any resources for parishes/organizations that are doing this work, please don't hesitate to ask. I love connecting people with the living prophetic tradition.
Thank you, Abigail! Certainly fear and hatred of immigrants and refugees was a central tenet of Trump's first term as well. It is only heightened and even more weaponized now.
Cameron, Thank you for your beautiful writing which so graphically snd passionately reminds us of the senseless cruelty and violence happening around us each day. I pray that I have the insight and courage to standup for the offenses against human dignity as best I can. God bless you for your wonderful work.
Thank you Cameron. This is a wonderful reflection. We are returning from a trip “down under” today and get to experience Good Friday twice today. I will read this several times.
This is beautiful. And I reported on an innocent person killed after torture by a gang member and I've seen Hamas up close when I reported in Israel back in the day and so I am also left to wonder....how do we handle that as a society? It is all too much: the reason the president of El Salvador is so popular is bc the people were so needing someone to get TDA off the streets. Victims need to be heard too bc they are crying out too, they are innocent as it appears at least Obego Garcia is.... Why do we hate each other so much and also, is there just evil that must be contained? I don't have answers. Thank you always for your work.
Oh Renee, I'm so sorry. That is terrible. My primary concern here is that we not use one form of violence to justify another. Salvadorans have been reporting the violation of due process under Bukele for years--many innocent Salvadorans have been taken, tortured, and locked in brutally violent prisons in a chilling echo of the disappearances common during Romero's lifetime. I think we also have to look further back into history and acknowledge the US responsibility for violence and instability in El Salvador.
I may not have any more answers than you do, but I keep returning to this quote from Romero: "We have never preached violence, except the violence of love, which left Christ nailed to a cross, the violence that we must each do to ourselves to overcome our selfishness and such cruel inequalities among us. The violence we preach is not the violence of the sword, the violence of hatred. It is the violence of love, of brotherhood, the violence that wills to beat weapons into sickles for work.”
This, of course, makes me cry. Yesterday at HT I was bawling my eyes out (which is a tiny issue since I'm up in front of the congregation playing a guitar) over all the hatred. When I was 27 y/o I wrote a column about U.S. funding the SOA and I interviewed El Salvadorans who were in a safe house in Dallas that the Catholic church set up and went home and sobbed over my children who were not going to be bombed that night when another mom in El Salvador WOULD be bombed and my husband was a finance manager for the defense contractor supply the U.S. gov with the bombs b/c there were no other jobs in texas for him to support a SAHM and three kids under age of 3.5. It's all horrible and seems unsolvable on all sides.
Thank you Cameron-your sobering and heartbreaking reflection moves me deeply. Just last evening I prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries based on reflections from St. Oscar Romero. I am guessing you already are aware of this, but if not, "The Romero Rosary" published by John Wilson (Pauline Books) is incredible. Archbishop Wilson includes excerpts of Romero's homilies for each of the mysteries, and he also created three new "Romero Mysteries" to pray with (Mysteries of Charity, Compasion & Mercy, and Justice & Peace. It has enriched and deepened my personal devotion to such an incredible saint.
Your writing above only reinforced the thoughts that arose in me during prayer. If I may, I'll close this with one of the lines from Romero that Wilson shares regarding the Carrying of the Cross: "Jesus does not pass through the painful tunnel of torture and death all alone. Travelling with him is a whole people, and we will also rise with him. We have read the passion, the greatest story about a man who has suffered" (Homily, 3/19/78).
Prayers for you and your family and all your great work!
Thank you for your beautiful words and call to action during this horrific time!
Thank you so much for crying out with me!
I woke up this morning with the thought that I just can't do "the passion" this year - I can't help but want my church to do it Romero's way - to have us all crying out for the passion happening in real-world 2025. But sadly, my parish won't do it that way.... I really needed these words today.
Gerry, I am so deeply sorry. I wish every parish were crying out too. Please know that you are not alone. If I can help at all with any resources for parishes/organizations that are doing this work, please don't hesitate to ask. I love connecting people with the living prophetic tradition.
Resources would be nice! Thank you.
Some of the articles were from 2019, just wanted to point out.
Thank you, Abigail! Certainly fear and hatred of immigrants and refugees was a central tenet of Trump's first term as well. It is only heightened and even more weaponized now.
Cameron, Thank you for your beautiful writing which so graphically snd passionately reminds us of the senseless cruelty and violence happening around us each day. I pray that I have the insight and courage to standup for the offenses against human dignity as best I can. God bless you for your wonderful work.
Thank you so much! So many are standing right alongside you. I pray for the same courage every day.
Thank you Cameron. This is a wonderful reflection. We are returning from a trip “down under” today and get to experience Good Friday twice today. I will read this several times.
That's so kind of you, Mike! I hope it was a wonderful trip and wish you a beautiful Triduum!
This is beautiful. And I reported on an innocent person killed after torture by a gang member and I've seen Hamas up close when I reported in Israel back in the day and so I am also left to wonder....how do we handle that as a society? It is all too much: the reason the president of El Salvador is so popular is bc the people were so needing someone to get TDA off the streets. Victims need to be heard too bc they are crying out too, they are innocent as it appears at least Obego Garcia is.... Why do we hate each other so much and also, is there just evil that must be contained? I don't have answers. Thank you always for your work.
Oh Renee, I'm so sorry. That is terrible. My primary concern here is that we not use one form of violence to justify another. Salvadorans have been reporting the violation of due process under Bukele for years--many innocent Salvadorans have been taken, tortured, and locked in brutally violent prisons in a chilling echo of the disappearances common during Romero's lifetime. I think we also have to look further back into history and acknowledge the US responsibility for violence and instability in El Salvador.
I may not have any more answers than you do, but I keep returning to this quote from Romero: "We have never preached violence, except the violence of love, which left Christ nailed to a cross, the violence that we must each do to ourselves to overcome our selfishness and such cruel inequalities among us. The violence we preach is not the violence of the sword, the violence of hatred. It is the violence of love, of brotherhood, the violence that wills to beat weapons into sickles for work.”
This, of course, makes me cry. Yesterday at HT I was bawling my eyes out (which is a tiny issue since I'm up in front of the congregation playing a guitar) over all the hatred. When I was 27 y/o I wrote a column about U.S. funding the SOA and I interviewed El Salvadorans who were in a safe house in Dallas that the Catholic church set up and went home and sobbed over my children who were not going to be bombed that night when another mom in El Salvador WOULD be bombed and my husband was a finance manager for the defense contractor supply the U.S. gov with the bombs b/c there were no other jobs in texas for him to support a SAHM and three kids under age of 3.5. It's all horrible and seems unsolvable on all sides.
Sadly beautiful. Thank you, Cameron.
Thank you so much. I wish so much that it didn't need to be said.
This is such a beautiful piece, Cameron. Thank you for sharing from the deepest place within you.
Oh, Joy, this brings tears to my eyes. Thank you so much for feeling it all with me.
When will we wake, weep,
witness, wail, work past this week,
for wounded we-world?
How long, o Lord, how long?
Came back to read this again today. You are a prophet and a poet and a prayer. We need your words.
Thank you Cameron-your sobering and heartbreaking reflection moves me deeply. Just last evening I prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries based on reflections from St. Oscar Romero. I am guessing you already are aware of this, but if not, "The Romero Rosary" published by John Wilson (Pauline Books) is incredible. Archbishop Wilson includes excerpts of Romero's homilies for each of the mysteries, and he also created three new "Romero Mysteries" to pray with (Mysteries of Charity, Compasion & Mercy, and Justice & Peace. It has enriched and deepened my personal devotion to such an incredible saint.
Your writing above only reinforced the thoughts that arose in me during prayer. If I may, I'll close this with one of the lines from Romero that Wilson shares regarding the Carrying of the Cross: "Jesus does not pass through the painful tunnel of torture and death all alone. Travelling with him is a whole people, and we will also rise with him. We have read the passion, the greatest story about a man who has suffered" (Homily, 3/19/78).
Prayers for you and your family and all your great work!