Oscar Romero (John Treseler)

Text from Video
1) At one point early on there was a comment made that Romero was not practicing liberation theology but instead was practicing the beatitudes. Meaning he was not looking to free the people of El Salvador but instead he was trying to get people to practice the beatitudes such as give food to the hugry, give drink to the thirsty and comfort the poor and oppressed
2) Something that was interesting and mentioned only for a minute was the involvement of the United States in the conflict.

Response to Video
1) The first point was about the Liberation Theology and beatitudes. I believe that Romero was about liberation theology but did it through the lens of the beatitudes. He wanted the hungry to be feed and thirsty to be given a drink, but the root of every speech and sermon was about the disappearance of the poor civilians. People were disappearing because there was an oppressive force that captured those who wanted to challenge that authority. His true message, given what I understand, was liberation. It was not the traditional liberation theology that other South American countries used but this was his version. He wanted to liberate the oppressed by using the beatitudes (theology). So in my eyes he was using liberation theology to free the oppressed in El Salvador.

2) I am not going to go ahead and bash the US for its apparent involvement in the oppression in El Salvador. I just think that it is remarkable to see the relationship between the United States, our home, and the Jesuits, our educators. In this circumstance the American government supported those doing the oppressing in order to maintain an ally in Central America during the crisis with Cuba. Both sides were trying to protect their contingencies- the US with its population and watching Cuba from El Salvador, and the Jesuits looking after the poor in EL Salvador not worrying about Cuba and the US. Although it is difficult I believe that problems like this can be resolved if both sides take a higher level view at the problem and realize that they are harming each other and each others innocent constituents as they do not work together.

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