SPIRITUALITY, FAIR TRADE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
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02	October 2013

Monseñor: The Last Journey of Oscar Romero

Text 1: "Do I defend the powerful or advocate for the oppressed? My mission is not to defend the powerful but the oppressed, and here I am."

Seeing how Romero, unlike most of the higher clergy in El Salvador whom appointed him, chose to defend the poor rather than the rich was inspirational. Though poorer priests frequently do defend the poor, most who have a chance to pick between helping people and helping themselves rise in position at this point and time and this setting would've chosen to rise at the expense of the people. Romero had the opportunity to then a blind eye to the poor as many of his peers previously did, but he chose to stick by the people and defend them. Eventually, the military and government turned against the church as a whole, but for a long time in El Salvador, along with many other Latin American countries, many of the higher members of the clergy were powerful, rich, and corrupt. I had sen documentaries that focused more on that particular aspect of Romero's life and his struggles with other clergymen and the church's involvement or lack thereof with the suffering lower classes. I really appreciated how this particular film mentioned Rutillo as much as it did because I've always felt his role in planting the seeds of justice and of yearning for equality in the people tends to be downplayed. Rutillo and Romero made the church in El Salvador a church for the people rather than a church for the rich.

Text 2: Early in the movie there is a scene about Romero's arrival. It mentions that he got out of a car just as some kids were playing soccer and the soccer ball landed at his feet. He then picked it up, said, "let's play," and began to play with them and supposedly had great skill handling the ball - not a talent expected from a priest. Rather than scolding the kids for playing there or almost hitting him, he joined them.

By playing with local children, conversing with common people rather than only rich people, and even giving a mass in which military men were posted at the doors threateningly with weapons ready to fight the people monseñor Romero was preaching to, Romero made the church more accessible to the community that he served. Previously, the church and readings were all in Latin, but Romero made an effort to teach people what it was they were going to church for and to increase their knowledge on the Scripture and the teachings of the church. He gave the people the power to use the scripture to learn to respect themselves and each other and to learn that justice was something they all deserved and should work towards. Unfortunately, parts of his message, like respect for all life, were lost on certain people (like the guerrilla) who took Romero's messages of equality in a more violent direction. This film brought a very real message by humanizing Romero and playing clips of real recording of his voice, people he knew, and clips of his life and actions in El Salvador. The film truly showed how genuine and sincere of a person Romero was not only a a person but as a clergyman and a revolutionary of sorts.