Obama to Visit Romero's Tomb

Congratulations to President Obama for visiting the tomb of the martyred Archbishop Oscar Romero. Rome has been dragging its curial feet on Romero's beatification but notice the speed with which JPII is going to the altars. Not just Romero but what about Dorothy Day? And one can go on and on. On the other hand, does it matter? People already consider them as saints with or without curial consent. Deacon R C Salinas

My Episcopal Church already recognizes archbishop Romero and the martyrs of El Salvador as saints (http://satucket.com/lectionary/Oscar_Romero.htm). They are commemorated on March 24. This prayer is said in the Eucharist and Daily Office that day.

PRAYER (traditional language)
Almighty God, who didst call thy servant Oscar Romero to be a voice for the voiceless poor, and to give his life as a seed of freedom and a sign of hope: Grant that, inspired by his sacrifice and the example of the martyrs of El Salvador, we may without fear or favor witness to thy Word who abideth, thy Word who is Life, even Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Spirit, be praise and glory now and for ever. Amen.

PRAYER (contemporary language)
Almighty God, you called your servant Oscar Romero to be a voice for the voiceless poor, and to give his life as a seed of freedom and a sign of hope: Grant that, inspired by his sacrifice and the example of the martyrs of El Salvador, we may without fear or favor witness to your Word who abides, your Word who is Life, even Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be praise and glory now and for ever. Amen.

Obama is visiting Romero's tomb for the same reasons, and in the same spirit, that might move him to visit Lenin's tomb on another occasion, i.e., ceremonial. Canonization is not recognition of significance; otherwise, Lenin and Mao would be in line ahead of Romero, as would Elvis and the Beatles. (Now, UConn in the Final Four -- THAT would be significant....) - robert.

'Why can't the church?'. To the extent that the church supports fascist and proto-fascist military regimes and monopoly capitalism it cannot support the recognition of people like Bishop Romero. He was appointed archbishop to quell the opposition to the military dictatorship [imposed with the help of the USA]. When he experienced the vicious brutality of the regime and opposed it, preaching the Gospel, he was murdered. The USA has never acknowledged its culpability in his murder or for its support of the military dictatorship that it helped install and supported. Obama's visit to his memorial in the cathedral is an empty gesture as long as the USA supports and maintains military dictatorships in the world. Is the church for justice or for the 'status quo ante' of fascist, military dictatorships?

Such a positive hope. However a REAL presidential leader would:

#1 Close the South American torture school--School of the Americas (which now has a new name.) As well as quit the lie, and actually close Guatanamo Bay, as promised.

#2 TRUST BUST against American mega-corporations, who have been reigning throughout much of South America for decades, robbing the South American poor native peoples, of their minerals and other resources.

#3 Effectively HELP Latin people right in the U.S., who are suffering terrible injustice, and discrimination as migrant workers, and children of migrant workers. Most of whom have been, for decades, minimally paid, and pesticide-exposed, used up and thrown away....

#4 Instead of "winning votes and photo opportunities", by the NOW THAT IT'S FAR TOO LATE FOR AMERICANS TO SAVE ROMERO'S LIFE, politically-correct Obama "Romero homage". Yeah, I would like to see Obama and every congressman (with a very few exceptions of sterling characters) BE A MAN, and stand up to the corruption of the American military-industrial complex, which is pouring out our tax dollars, supporting rich weapons manufacturers, slaughtering innocents, and massively polluting wherever they spread their tentacles.

Hopefully Obama will get a clearer picture of what Vatican-GOP-Neocon American Exceptionalism is REALLY all about!!

He should also ask Sr. Dianna Ortiz what it is all about. Obama can also ask Jean-Bertrand Aristede about American Exceptionalism/anti-Communism/Anti-Sociaslism/anti-Marxism!! They've all seen it up-front and personal. Extremism, even from the Vatican is deadly.

I frequently ask myself: was this really what the BVM was really talking about?? So much death has arisen from it that I totally doubt it. Why would the mother of The "Prince of Peace" push an agenda of death? It just boggles!!

But then we're just liberals, so we cannot know anything. We have to leave everything to Right Wing extremists. Our voices have been successfully neutralized by the GOP propaganda machine.

Maybe, just maybe, we should all vote for Repub extremism, that might unleash even more, thus showing voters what Reagan Business-Religious extremism is really all about. Someday, when their voters get enough of it, a lesson will be learned. OR, maybe there are so many GWB, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Beck, Limbaugh unintelligent intellectuals in the Repub party that they'll never gain any learning. They'll just keep blaming everything on we liberals, welfare queens, the nasty government, taxes, unions, workers, etc, and they''ll just continue to believe their own "fair and balanced" FOX NEWS and TALK RADIO propaganda machine.

Jeb Bush or whomever, will help them all "believe".

We do have to give them credit. They have taken GOP business ethics, moral, values, advertising, PR and theocracy down a very crooked road by their "dirty deeds done dirt cheap" at the cost of lives and real democracy in servitude to both, Trickle-down economics and Trickle-down theology.

Wanna' bet, there is a LOT more to come!! Bet on it!! Watch for it!!

AND ALL the while they'll keep calling it Pro-life and Family Values?? When it's really more aptly called "Repub Pro-life and Family Values". They'll twist the truth until it's totally unrecognizable. Galileo can tell us about that kind of ideological blindness!! A blindness that's driven by ideology, a false worship.

Sooo, hopefully Obama will learn a lesson that the GOP is likely to never learn. His chances are good. Their chances seem almost nonexistent.

I'm not holding my breath waiting for officials in Rome to get "inspired" about much of anything,   ...Roman politics being what they are.
.
While it is definitely a nice gesture that a U.S. President is visiting Romero's grave,   a much nobler gesture would be to shut down the School of the Americas at Ft. Benning and cease our own torture and terror training endeavors.     Graduates of that training camp,   which include foreign nationals,   have been guilty of heinous human rights violations,   not the least of which was the grisly murder of Romero,   and four female missionaries a few months later.     Our own government and its overblown military-industrial complex doesn't always wear the 'good guy' white hat — and neither does Rome.
.

Does Obama even know who Archbishop Romero is or is this, and it probably is, just a publicity stunt orchestrated by his "Catholic" advisors?