El Salvador Mission - Kate Vikstrom 1C

San Salvador, August 12-22, 2005 - page 3

As we oriented to our new surroundings Sr. Eleanor gave an insightful and compassionate overview of the history of these people. We learned that behind the beautiful and friendly eyes we encountered everywhere, there were horrors unknowable to us… no eyes except the very young had escaped the atrocities of the civil war, or the violent loss of loved ones. As our week went on we saw that nevertheless, those eyes did not accuse or complain. Patients sat in patience, waiting for hours on end, and despite everything, were quick to smile.

On my first evening with Kathy Garcia I asked a lot of background questions. This country, especially the capital city, presents as Spanish–speaking, Catholic, and Americanized. I asked her, what of the culture and language of the indigenous peoples before the Spanish colonization? She answered that there is very little left. The culture and language are all but gone, with very few artifacts and ruins. “It’s hard, when you’re massacred,” she summarized. Sister Eleanor gave a figure of about one percent indigenous population. She said that after the 1932 massacre of an estimated 30,000 people in the western countryside, the indigenous identity virtually “went underground.” It can still be seen however in the body traits. Some of the extremely small of stature display the indigenous body type. They also have straight smooth hair that stays black. Spanish blood is apparent in those with lush curly hair, often richly gray with age.

Our first Sunday morning happened to be the celebration of Archbishop Romero’s 88th birthday, and several of us attended mass in his honor at the cathedral’s Crypt where he is buried. The mass was vibrant, the music was folksy, and the congregation passionately involved. The clear soprano voice of the song leader is still ringing in my head.
	Kathy Garcia described the enormity of Romero’s martyrdom: “He is huge. He is bigger than anything we have… bigger than JFK. He is sainted. Rome is in the process of canonizing him, but the people here don’t care about that. He is already a saint.”
Sr. Eleanor explained that Romero began his ministry as a contemplative, a teacher, pious and respected. The government chose him as bishop, believing him to be a “safe” choice. But it soon evolved that his true spiritual gift was listening, and what he heard was that the people had no voice.
	As he listened his spirituality underwent transformation, he moved beyond a personal inner journey to the spirituality of listening to the people around him. He became the voice of those who had no voice. But in doing so he became a danger to the powerful. He was assassinated while celebrating mass in March 1980, and no one has ever been prosecuted for his murder.