{"id":8190,"date":"2018-10-11T18:29:55","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T23:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/?p=8190"},"modified":"2026-02-26T13:41:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T19:41:58","slug":"a-persecuted-church-images-of-the-body-of-christ-in-romero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/2018\/10\/11\/a-persecuted-church-images-of-the-body-of-christ-in-romero\/","title":{"rendered":"A persecuted Church: Images of the Body of Christ in “Romero”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Blessed Oscar Romero will be canonized a saint in Rome this coming Sunday, October 14th. <\/strong>You can view the live Canonization Mass on EWTN<\/a> starting at 3:30 a.m. ET or again at noon. <\/strong>In honor of the upcoming celebration, I offer you a review of the film about the last three years of\u00a0his life that I wrote as part of my\u00a0coursework\u00a0at Catholic Theological Union. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Saint Oscar Romero, pray for us!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

When I taught high school, a poster hung in my classroom that read, \u201cStand up for what\u2019s right even if you\u2019re standing alone.\u201d To my theology students, the poster presented a message about the cost of discipleship; Jesus and his early followers were persecuted for standing up for justice, and through the centuries Christians have been persecuted for living the Gospel.<\/p>\n

For three years (1977-1980), Oscar Romero<\/a> served as archbishop in El Salvador. By his courageous leadership, all people in El Salvador — no matter if they were rich or poor, powerful or oppressed — were challenged to unite together as one body of Christ, as a stronger Church, more focused on the mission of Christ. He confronted systemic injustice, challenged the status quo, and stood along with the poor and oppressed. In the end, his courage caused martyrdom for Archbishop Romero.\u00a0<\/a>The true story is a reminder for us all that the cost of being Church can be persecution.<\/p>\n

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A FILM OF TRUTH AND PAIN<\/strong><\/p>\n

The courage and Christ-like love of the archbishop during his poignant and brief period of leadership is captured in a 1989 film that bears his name, Romero<\/em><\/a>. In addition to telling the tale of Romero\u2019s leadership, Romero <\/em>says much about ecclesiology through images of the Church as a Persecuted Body of Christ. A major theme of the film Romero <\/em>is a contextual presentation of a definition of Church; as we see people unite together as the Body of Christ and build the Kingdom of God, the people come to embody the persecuted Christ.<\/p>\n

Viewing Romero <\/em>stirred up deep emotions in me. It felt like an act of prayer to journey with the Salvadorian people, and I became deeply saddened by the truth of their suffering. I remembered my experience protesting at the School of Americas in Georgia<\/a>; I felt shame to know that my country was on the side of the oppressors in this conflict. Additionally, I became curious about the authenticity of the Romero quotes and the historical accuracy of the film<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I viewed the film in light of my reading and learning in an ecclesiology course at Catholic Theological Union. I was stunned to realize how highly theological the film Romero<\/em>\u00a0is and what it says about the global Church in the Post-Vatican II era. I noticed that the film featured several local \u201cnon-actors\u201d which served to emphasize the ways in which the poor are the people of God who make up the Church. With this in mind, the faces of the ordinary people became strikingly beautiful as I watched. I realized the meaning was presented through the film\u2019s strategic design of layering the pictures of the people with the sound of Romero\u2019s speeches. The juxtaposition of my deeper theological understanding with the Truth of the story caused me to feel horror each time the film showed an image of Christ or the dignity of a person violated.<\/p>\n

THE PERSECUTED BODY<\/strong><\/p>\n

In each period of Church history, there has emerged a new understanding of what it means to be Church. In the 20th\u00a0century, after the Second Vatican Council, the meaning of Church became multidimensional. Church is a pilgrim people, the people of God on a journey. We are the Body of Christ. In Romero<\/em>, we see this ecclesiology manifested within the context of the conflict in El Salvador. More significantly, we see how the archbishop responded to the tensions by presenting a way of being a Church that builds the Reign of God through action. As noted by Dulles, \u201cto be fully effective, images must be deeply rooted in the corporate experience of the faithful.” This is, in part, why Romero\u2019s focus on the people being the persecuted Church was effective within the context of El Salvador.<\/p>\n

In one particular chapter of the film, we see a simple village church that has been converted into a barracks. The archbishop courageously enters the church and announces to the uniformed soldiers that he has come to retrieve the Eucharist. A machine gun-bearing soldier hears him and turns to point his weapon toward the high altar at the front of the church. First, we see Jesus\u2019 body hanging on the crucifix above the altar as it is sprayed with bullets. Then, we see the doors of the tabernacle blast off as the surrounding altar, wall, and flower vases fill with bullet holes. The soldier turns to the archbishop and tells him to leave the church, and then smiles with satisfaction when Romero does. Romero goes into the street and looks into the faces of the people who stare back at him with concern. Romero then re-enters the church, returns to the high altar and tries to pick up as many pieces of the Eucharist as he can from the floor while more gunfire sprays toward him. As he crouches and gathers his beloved Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, a soldier approaches and kicks him to the ground. For the third time, the archbishop leaves and returns, now wearing his priestly garments and walking through the streets of the village toward the church with people following him. Romero leads the crowd into the church. Together, they gaze straight ahead and move unflinchingly past the soldiers who are pointing guns at them. Despite the confused and shocked looks upon the soldiers\u2019 faces, Romero and the people fill the church. Archbishop Romero stands near the altar, looks into the faces of the people and speaks. He declares that he and the people have come to<\/p>\n

\u00a0… retake possession of this church building and to strengthen all those whom the enemies of the Church have trampled down. You should know that you have not suffered alone, for you are the Church. You are the people of God. You are Jesus, in the here and now. He is crucified in you, just as surely as he was crucified 2,000 years ago \u2026 And, you should know that your pain and your suffering, like his, will contribute to El Salvador\u2019s liberation and redemption.<\/em><\/p>\n

Through the combination of the words of Romero and cinematic technique, the film presents an image of the Church. We see that the Church stands with the oppressed; the Church itself is persecuted, for it is the Body of Christ. The scene mirrors the ecclesiology defended by Romero in his pastoral letter\u00a0The Church, The Body of Christ in History <\/em>in which he writes, \u201cno one should be surprised that the Church is being persecuted precisely when she is being faithful to her mission \u2026 It is the Church\u2019s belief that this persecution affects Christ himself; what touches any Christian touches Christ, because he is in personal union with all Christians — especially in anything that involves the poorest of society.\u201d\u00a0Romero\u2019s particular attention to \u201cthe poorest of society\u201d by his words and action is especially significant in the context; the Church was accused of being Marxist and \u201cmeddling in politics\u201d\u00a0because it stood beside the poor. Within the same pastoral letter, Romero defends the Church\u2019s actions against these accusations by especially emphasizing that the Church \u201chas done no more than fulfill her mission.\u201d Part of that mission, he insists, is to promote the inclusivity and unity that is core to the Reign of God, for the Gospel does not exclude any person, rich or poor.\u00a0As he wrote, \u201c\u2026 the Archdiocese has been faithful to the Gospel, and for that very reason she has been persecuted. Yet out of this persecution arises a stronger unity that helps her to offer the people more effectively her message of hope and love.\u201d<\/p>\n

AS ONE BODY OF CHRIST<\/strong><\/p>\n

Throughout the film, as they respond to the sociopolitical tensions in their country, we also see how the poorest Salvadorian people arise united by their ambition to build the Reign of God. The film begins with a scene of the military of El Salvador providing surveillance at a political rally in February 1977. As the people in the crowd cheer to a speech that calls for a free election, it becomes clear that the people are united in their desire for freedom and confrontation of the power system. As the film progresses, the people persevere with unwavering determination, even while more and more people are assassinated, arrested, tortured and raped; disappear. Their cause is the Gospel that promotes the dignity and freedom of all people, but their courage is a threat to the power of the right-wing government and death squads.<\/p>\n

Immediately after the martyrdom of Romero, the last scene of the film shows a group of ordinary poor people, old and young, moving along a crowded road. Mothers walk with their children holding their hands. One young woman carries a bucket while another carries a basket on her head. An older man guides a mule. As we look into the people\u2019s faces and see their poverty, we hear Romero\u2019s voice one more time: \u201cI\u2019ve often been threatened by death. If they kill me, I shall arise in the Salvadorian people. Let my blood be a seed of freedom and the sign that hope will soon be a reality. A bishop will die, but the Church of God, which is the people, will never perish.\u201d With this conclusion of the film, we are once again given an image of the Church as the persecuted people of God.<\/p>\n

LESSONS FOR OTHER CONTEXTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although the image of the Church that is present in Romero<\/em>\u00a0is particular to the sociopolitical context during and after Romero\u2019s time, the image of the people of God being a persecuted Church is not unique to that historical situation. Images of Church \u201csuggest attitudes and courses of action; they intensify confidence and devotion,\u201d but they really are not effective if they don\u2019t fit the experience of the members of the Church.\u00a0Nonetheless, I can apply certain lessons from Romero\u00a0<\/em>to my particular context because I relate to the experience of persecution as a member of the Church.<\/p>\n

As a Franciscan Sister, I regularly find myself in a state of discernment about how to live the Gospel no matter the cost of discipleship.\u00a0Even though my experiences are not as drastic as the violence dealt with by the Salvadorians, I also must confront my fears about the price of discipleship. Romero\u00a0<\/em>fed me the courage needed to be a Christian in contentious times; I now expect persecution since I am part of the Church. As a member of the Body of Christ, I will do what the poster in my classroom said and \u201cstand up for what\u2019s right\u201d when the Spirit calls me to. Because of my faith, the difference is that I will be united with my Christian brothers and sisters in Christ\u2019s love. I will not be, as the poster says, \u201cstanding alone.\u201d<\/p>\n