Oscar Romero Anniversary

In the coming weeks senior clergy from the Catholic, Anglican, Methodist and other Christian Churches will be marking the thirtieth anniversary of the martyrdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero.

On 24 March 1980 Oscar Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador in Central America, was shot dead whilst celebrating Mass. He paid the ultimate price for having preached the Christian Gospel, speaking out on behalf of the poor in his native El Salvador, a country then split by civil war and governed by a regime that clung to power through military force.

At his appointment as Archbishop in 1977 many had expected Monsignor Romero to be a conservative and bookish leader of the country’s Catholic population. However, the assassination of priests and laity who had denounced the crimes of the junta forced him to realise that following the Gospel of Jesus Christ would bring him directly into opposition with those who exploited power.

In his preaching, radio broadcasts and writings, Archbishop Romero called for Salvadoreans to live in peace, for the government to defend the rights of the poor and marginalised, and for the military to behave justly. His prophetic message provoked the ruling classes and Oscar Romero received numerous death threats. In March 1980 those threats became a reality.

Since his death millions of Christians have recognised Romero as a modern-day martyr. His passionate preaching of God’s love for all, in season and out of season, was never compromised. Pope John Paul II prayed at Romero’s tomb, and Pope Benedict XVI has said it is his hope that the Servant of God will soon be beatified. Not only Roman Catholics but Christians of many denominations regard Romero as a patron saint-in-waiting for the justice and peace movement.

Thirty years after his martyrdom, Christians around the world will be marking Oscar Romero’s witness to Christ through his life and death. Many devotees and Church leaders will gather in El Salvador for a special celebration with the new Head of State, Mauricio Funes, who has dedicated his presidency to the memory of Romero. Among the Christian leaders from Britain taking part will be the Archbishop of Birmingham, Bernard Longley, and the Bishop of Leeds, Arthur Roche.

Meanwhile here in Britain there will be two major ecumenical services, as well as special Masses in more than a dozen dioceses. Some of these liturgies have been organised by CAFOD, religious orders such as the Carmelites (Romero was shot in a Carmelite chapel), and the Archbishop Romero Trust (www.romerotrust.org.uk) established in 2006 to promote awareness of Romero’s life and to support social justice initiatives in Latin America which carry forward his legacy.

On Saturday 20th March the first major ecumenical service will take place in York Minster at 11am. This Liturgy of the Word will be led by two patrons of the Romero Trust, the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh Cardinal Keith O’Brien, and the Archbishop of York John Sentamu. Also taking part will be the Roman Catholic Bishop of Middlesbrough, Terence Drainey, and the President of the Methodist Conference, David Gamble.

The second major ecumenical service will take place a week later on Sunday 28 March (Palm Sunday) at 6.30pm in Westminster Abbey. Again two patrons of the Trust will lead the service, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams who will preach, and Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor. They will be joined by the Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, and the Superintendent Minister of Wesley’s Chapel, Revd. the Lord Leslie Griffiths. The service will include the laying of a wreath underneath Archbishop Romero’s statue over the Abbey’s West Door.

On the day of the anniversary itself, Wednesday 24 March, Cardinal Keith O’Brien will preside at a special Mass in Edinburgh Cathedral at 7pm at which Bishop Maurice Taylor will preach, whilst in London Archbishop Vincent Nichols will celebrate Mass in honour of Romero in Westminster Cathedral at 5.30pm. This Mass will be sponsored by CAFOD, Pax Christi, Progressio, Westminster Justice and Peace Commission, and the Archbishop Romero Trust.

Additionally services will be celebrated in St George’s Cathedral in Southwark, St Chad’s Cathedral in Birmingham, Brentwood Cathedral, and various other places (details are listed on the Romero Trust website). The Bishop of East Anglia, Michael Evans - himself a trustee of the Romero Trust – has organised a whole week of Romero commemorative events. The Anglican Cathedral in Norwich will celebrate Choral Evensong on 21 March in honour of Romero after which both Bishop Evans and his Anglican counterpart Graham James will give short talks.

Justice and peace commissions of various dioceses in England, Wales and Scotland are likewise organising liturgies and talks about Romero from mid-February onwards.

The new website of the Archbishop Romero Trust – www.romerotrust.org.uk – was launched on 5 February, making available various Romero-related resources including English translations of the Archbishop’s homilies.

A new biography by Scott Wright entitled Oscar Romero and the Communion of Saints and published by Orbis Books has its London launch on 23 February and will be available from religious bookshops soon afterwards.

The ground-swell of devotion to Archbishop Romero at grass-roots level, combined with the appreciation by his fellow bishops of Romero’s preaching of the Gospel message, is a hopeful sign that his beatification will soon take place.

Service in York Minster

More than 500 participants attended an ecumenical service in York Minster on Saturday, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the martyrdom of Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador. The presider, His Eminence Cardinal Keith O'Brien and the Anglican Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu who preached, are among the patrons of the Archbishop Romero Trust, who coordinated the service, with CAFOD workers of Middlesbrough Diocese.

The service was attended by the Ambassador of El Salvador to the Court of St James, His Excellency Werner Romero, whose father worked as a journalist with Monseñor.

Before the service began, participants were welcomed by the Dean of York, Very Rev. Keith Jones. The Dean and Chapter of the Minster took part in the service. The presider was His Eminence Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh. He and the Archbishop of York, who preached, are among the patrons of the Archbishop Romero Trust.

The Prior of the York community of Carmelite Friars, Fr Tony Lester, O.Carm., welcomed the congregation on behalf of the Archbishop Romero Trust, and outlined the life, death and legacy of Monsenor Romero.

Images of Oscar Romero were projected onto a large screen as Fr Tony sketched out the Archbishop's life. A litany of sorrow was led by the Catholic Bishop of Hallam, Rt Rev John Rawsthorne.

After readings from the Old Testament, by the Quaker Chaplain to the University of York, and one of Oscar Romero's Sunday homilies (by a Middlesbrough Diocesan CAFOD worker), the Gospel was proclaimed by Rev. David Gamble, President of the Methodist Conference.

The homily was preached by the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu. The Archbishop spoke of his own visit to El Salvador just weeks after the assassination of Monseñor Romero. He described Romero as truly a saint who let the light of God shine through him.

A litany of commitment was then led by Rt Rev Terence Drainey, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough in whose Diocese the service took place.

The Our Father and Sign of Peace were introduced by Sr Mary Walmsley, superior of the Bar Convent community of the Congregation of Jesus. The service concluded with a prayer and blessing given by Cardinal O'Brien.

After the service Cardinal O'Brien met with members of the congregation, including students from the University of York Catholic Chaplaincy (served by the Carmelite friars), and members of the York and Leeds Carmelite Spirituality Groups.

First Martyr

Yesterday a birth, today a death - St Stephen, First Christian Martyr.

"Martyrdom means bearing witness to God. Every soul that seeks in pureness of heart to know God and obeys the commandments is a martyr, bearing witness by life or by words."
(Clement of Alexandria)

"Have great love for trials and think of them as but a small way of pleasing your Bridegroom, who did not hesitate to die for you."
(John of the Cross)

Janini Luwum, martyr

The Church in Uganda began with the deaths of martyrs ( 3 June 1886, and James Hannington and his Companions, Martyrs, 29 October 1885). Around 1900, Uganda became a British protectorate, with the chief of the Buganda tribe as nominal ruler, and with several other tribes included in the protectorate. In 1962 Uganda became an independent country within the British Commonwealth, with the Bugandan chief as president and Milton Obote, of the Lango tribe, as Prime Minister. In 1966, Obote took full control of the government. In 1971, he was overthrown by General Idi Amin, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces. Almost immediately, he began a policy of repression, arresting anyone suspected of not supporting him. Hundreds of soldiers from the Lango and Acholi tribes were shot down in their barracks. Amin ordered the expulsion of the Asian population of Uganda, about 55,000 persons, mostly small shopkeepers from India and Pakistan. Over the next few years, many Christians were killed for various offenses. A preacher who read over the radio a Psalm which mentioned Israel was shot for this in 1972.
Early in 1977, there was a small army rebellion that was put down with only seven men dead. However, Amin determined to stamp out all traces of dissent. His men killed thousands, including the entire population of Milton Obote's home village. On Sunday, 30 January, Bishop Festo Kivengere preached on "The Preciousness of Life" to an audience including many high government officials. He denounced the arbitrary bloodletting, and accused the government of abusing the authority that God had entrusted to it. The government responded on the following Saturday (5 February) by an early (1:30am) raid on the home of the Archbishop, Janani Luwum, ostensibly to search for hidden stores of weapons. The Archbishop called on President Amin to deliver a note of protest at the policies of arbitrary killings and the unexplainced disappearances of many persons. Amin accused the Archbishop of treason, produced a document supposedly by former President Obote attesting his guilt, and had the Archbishop and two Cabinet members (both committed Christians) arrested and held for military trial. The three met briefly with four other prisoners who were awaiting execution, and were permitted to pray with them briefly. Then the three were placed in a Land Rover and not seen alive again by their friends. The government story is that one of the prisoners tried to seize control of the vehicle and that it was wrecked and the passengers killed. The story believed by the Archbishop's supporters is that he refused to sign a confession, was beaten and otherwise abused, and finally shot. His body was placed in a sealed coffin and sent to his native village for burial there. However, the villagers opened the coffin and discovered the bullet holes. In the capital city of Kampala a crowd of about 4,500 gathered for a memorial service beside the grave that had been prepared for him next to that of the martyred bishop Hannington. In Nairobi, the capital of nearby Kenya, about 10,000 gathered for another memorial service. Bishop Kivengere was informed that he was about to be arrested, and he and his family fled to Kenya, as did the widow and orphans of Archbishop Luwum.
The following June, about 25,000 Ugandans came to the capital to celebrate the centennial of the first preaching of the Gospel in their country, among the participants were many who had abandoned Christianity, but who had returned to their Faith as a result of seeing the courage of Archbishop Luwum and his companions in the face of death.

PRAYER

O God, by whose providence the blood of the martyrs is the seed Of the Church: Grant that we who remember before you blessed Janani, Archbishop and Martyr in Uganda, may, like him, be steadfast in our faith in Jesus Christ, to whom he gave obedience, even to death, and by his sacrifice brought forth a plentiful harvest; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Almighty God, who gave to your servant Janani Luwum and his Companions boldness to confess the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith: Grant that we may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

We here in the Anglican Diocese of York have an archbishop and primate who had to flee Uganda:

John Sentamu was born in 1949 in a village near Kampala, Uganda, the sixth of thirteen children. He read law at Makerere University, Kampala, and practised as an advocate of the High Court of Uganda. Sentamu was appointed a High Court judge in 1973 at the age of 24 by the newly-ascendent Idi Amin; his judicial independence earned the dictator's ire, however, and he suffered threats and physical violence before fleeing to the United Kingdom in 1974.

He read theology at Selwyn College, Cambridge (BA 1976, MA MPhil 1979, PhD 1984), and trained for the priesthood at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, being ordained a priest in 1979. He worked as assistant chaplain at Selwyn College, as chaplain at a remand centre, and as curate, priest and vicar in a series of parish appointments before his consecration in 1996 as Bishop of Stepney (a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of London). It was during this time that he served as advisor to the Stephen Lawrence Judicial Enquiry. In 2002 he chaired the Damilola Taylor review. That same year he was appointed Bishop of Birmingham, where his ministry, according to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, was praised by "Christians of all backgrounds".

On 17 June 2005 the Prime Minister's office announced his translation to York as the 97th Archbishop.He was formally elected by the Canons of York Minster on 21 June, legally confirmed as Archbishop in London on 5 October, and enthroned at York Minster on 30 November 2005 (the feast of Saint Andrew), at a ceremony with African singing and dancing and contemporary music, with the Archbishop himself playing African drums during the service.

This weekend he is with the Archbishop of Canterbury at the Primates meeting in Tanzania.

Last Sunday before travelling to Tanzania Archbishop Sentamu remembered his youthful hero, Janini Luwum:

"Timely reminder: the Archbishop of York, Dr Sentamu, lays a wreath at a service in Westminster Abbey last Sunday to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the martyrdom of Archbishop Janini Luwum. The Archbishop was killed during President Amin’s regime in Uganda". (Church Times today).

Charles, King and Martyr

If I hadn't heard it with my own ears I wouldn't have believed it. Breakfast conversation in this house for retired clergy, church workers, and widows. One resident says to another "Why honour him in this way and not any other monarch? It couldn't be for his Christian faith could it?"

Why We Honour King Charles I as a Saint

King Charles the Martyr was the last saint to be canonised by the Church of England.
He is honoured as a martyr because he died for the Church. He was offered his life if he would abandon episcopacy but he refused for this would have taken the Church of England away from being part of 'the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church’ and made Her into a sect.
So we venerate him for his sacrifice and see in it inspiration for us today.
In the words of Dr. Mandell Creighton, Bishop of London 1897-1901 and a noted ecclesiastical historian: ‘Had Charles been willing to abandon the Church and give up episcopacy, he might have saved his throne and his life. But on this point Charles stood firm: for this he died, and by dying saved it for the future.’
Immediately upon the Restoration of Church and King on 19th May, 1660, the Convocation of Canterbury and York, now being free to assemble and act, canonised King Charles and added his name to the Kalendar of Saints at the revision of The Prayer Book It came into use with the authority of Church and State in 1662 and since that time parish churches and chapels have been dedicated under the title of S.Charles (often as King Charles the Martyr).
S.Charles is also honoured for his strong personal piety and for his protection and patronage of the Church.
His reign saw the beginning of a revival of the Religious Life in the Church of England and the first attempt at Community Life (after the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII), which began at Little Gidding and was encouraged by S.Charles.
He oversaw many schemes for the Church: the restoration and adornment of churches and cathedrals, the founding and advancement of charities, the improvement of the liturgy and the re-introduction of the episcopacy in Scotland. His reign witnessed, albeit briefly, a Golden Age for Anglicanism especially in spiritual and devotional writing which is still much appreciated today.

There is a great need again today to claim the catholic heritage of the Church of England against its erosion by protestants and liberals. May God grant the church priests and laity ready to do just that whatever the personal costs involved.

The Society of King Charles the Martyr is an Anglican devotional society and one of the Catholic Societies of the Church of England. (It is also active in the Episcopal Church USA and has international members elsewhere). It is dedicated to and under the patronage of King Charles I of England (19 November 1600–30 January 1649), the only person to be canonized by the Church of England after the English Reformation.

It was common practice for the head of a traitor to be held up and exhibited to the crowd with the words "Behold the head of a traitor!"; although Charles' head was exhibited, the words were not used. In an unprecedented gesture, one of the prominent leaders of the revolutionaries, Oliver Cromwell, allowed the King's head to be sewn back on his body so the family could pay its respects. Charles was buried privately and at night on 7 February 1649, in the Henry VIII vault inside St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. The King's son, King Charles II, later planned an elaborate royal mausoleum, but this never eventuated.
When the Church and Monarchy were restored on 19 May, 1660, Canterbury and York, being the two primacies of the Church of England, assembled their convocations and, added his name to the ecclesiastical calendar in the Book of Common Prayer to be celebrated on the day of his death. In the time of Queen Victoria this was however removed upon request by elected representatives of the Commons; now, 30 January is only listed as a "Lesser Festival." There are several Anglican/Episcopal churches dedicated to Charles I as "King and Martyr," in England, Canada, Australia and the United States.

Massacre of the Innocents

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, nicknamed ‘Peasant Bruegel’ was probably the most significant and exciting painter in the Northern Europe during the middle part of the sixteenth century. His nickname “Peasant Bruegel” indicates to his subjects: peasant life, proverbs and genre scenes, the New Testament topics set among common folks of contemporary Flanders.

Matthew 2:16-18: "When Herod saw how the astologers [three Wise Men] had tricked him [by not reporting back to him the child's location] he fell into a passion, and gave orders for the massacre of all children in Bethlehem and its neighborhood, of the age of two years and younger, which was the time he had been given by the astrologers [for the birth of the child who was to become king of the Jews.] So the words spoken through the prophet Jeremiah were fulfilled: 'A voice was heard in Rama, wailing and loudly lamenting; it was Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing all consolation, because they were no more.'"

Vividly and gruesomely depicted:Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The Massacre of the Innocents. 1565-7. Oil on panel. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria.

The contemporary equivalent of this New Testament incident is the slaughter of the innocents conceived in the wombs of their mothers by the process of abortion. The liberal political intelligentsia that so reviles the idea of the execution of vicious murderers after a fair trial nevertheless favour so actively the killing of innocent children without trial by abortion. In the UK a 100 teenage girls a week are going in for what are called "repeat" abortions. They have conceived under the age of consent but few are prosecuted for the illegal crime of sexual intercourse with them. Abortion is now taken to be an acceptable form of contraception. The truth is that it is nearer to infanticide. The full figures are enormous.

One Christian organisation which campaigns tirelessly to oppose this situation and provide positive alternatives in the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (www.spuc.org.uk).

Aims of the Society
To affirm, defend and promote the existence and value of human life from the moment of conception, and to defend and protect human life generally.
To reassert the principle laid down in the United Nations 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child that the child "needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth."
To defend, assist and promote the life and welfare of mothers during pregnancy and of their children from the time of conception up to, during and after birth.
To examine existing or proposed laws, legislation or regulations relating to abortion and to support or oppose such as appropriate.

In this work they deserve the prayers of the church and the support of all Christians.