Oscar Romero to be beatified in 2015?

As I wrote in a March 2013 op-ed on Could the next pope come from Latin America?

However, it is not all about symbolism. The selection of a Latin American pope might help to rejuvenate a Church that has lost ground in recent decades to Protestant and evangelical churches. It might help to heal the rift that occurred between those who supported a theology of liberation and those who preferred that the Church remain more traditional, some might say apolitical. Finally, the selection of a Latin American Pope might give added hope for the canonisation of the murdered Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador.

According to Archbishop of El Salvador José Luis Escobar, the Catholic Church intends to beatify Monseñor Oscar Romero next year. The news comes out of a November 4th meeting that the Salvadoran Archbishop held with Pope Francis.

This will make up for all the times I've been wrong.

University of Scranton Commemorating 25th Anniversary of the Martyrs of El Salvador

The University of Scranton just released its programming to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the martyrdom of six Jesuit priests and their housekeeper and daughter at the Central American University (UCA) in San Salvador. The Jesuit Center took the lead on the event's programming with the assistance of Education for Justice (perhaps just not enough to warrant a mention I guess).

I am facilitating the Friday panel on “What the Martyrs Mean for Us Today” where I would like to encourage the faculty and administrators to contemplate what the martyrs mean for the University of Scranton as a Jesuit and Catholic University in Northeast Pennsylvania.

Father Ignacio Ellacuria, and Román Mayorga Quirós before him, focused the UCA's resources on solving El Salvador's most pressing problems of the day. They created a human rights institute and a public opinion institute, carried out research on the effects of the violence, and were deeply involved in trying to get the FMLN and the Army to dialogue in hopes of ending la locura through a political process.

Tonight, we are unofficially kicking off the commemorating with a screening of "A Question of Conscience." The film tells the story behind the massacre, including interviews with Fr. Jon Sobrino who was away the night of the murders and a profile of Lieutenant Espinoza, a graduate of the Jesuit prep school in San Salvador, who was a member of the US-trained Atlacatl Battalion that carried out the massacre.

Education for Justice and the Center for Service and Social Justice are co-sponsoring tonight's film which was initially motivated to provide some background for our University of Scranton students who are traveling to Washington, D.C. next weekend to participate in the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice 2014.

Tonight's film in the Moscovitz Theater begins at 8pm.

10 year anniversary of impunity in Gilberto Soto's murder

Several people concerned with human rights took out an ads in Salvadoran newspapers calling on Attorney General Luis Martinez to investigate the murder of Teamsters Port Division Representative Gilberto Soto. Soto, a US citizen, was investigating the conditions of workers rights in El Salvador when he was assassinated in Usulutan ten years ago,

For the sake of Gilberto Soto’s children; for the sake of the workers of El Salvador; for the sake of the soul of your nation; we request that you reopen this and other emblematic human rights cases. We urge you to work cooperatively with the PDDH and independent human rights organizations to identify those who ordered these crimes and those who covered them up.

Like many murders in El Salvador, it's hard to determine who killed Soto. However, El Salvador’s Human Rights Ombudsman (PDDH) and the Human Rights Institute (IDHUCA) at the UCA compiled enough evidence to indicate that the authorities' version of the events did not hold water and that there seems to have been forces at work obstructing a serious investigation and ensuring a cover-up.