JUSTICE, PEACE, POVERTY

Considering and Contemplating the Conventual Franciscan Charism Through the Witness of Saint Oscar Romero

by: fray Sidifredo de La Cruz, OFM Conv. (Colombia)

  & fray Erick Marín, OFM Conv. (Central America)

We, the Franciscan friars of Colombia and Central America welcome our brothers from the United States to Latin America. Our houses of formation in Bogotá, Medellín, and San Salvador are happy to host our combined Franciscan group of friars of the Americas, in our learning and experiencing what it means for us to embrace the lepers of today, the poor  crucified Christ, and to be embraced by Him in return. 

Our religious structures and striving for personal holiness can too often lead to adopting a comfortable lifestyle that numbs consecrated religious. In this state, we too often fail to hear the cry of the poor who seek justice to find peace, and thereby risk missing the compassion that moved God to incarnate his Word in the reality of an oppressed people.

Pope Francis, who continues to call the Church out of comfort zones and into the streets of encounter has canonized Monsignor Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador. Romero died a martyr because he lived the Gospel, promoting and protecting the dignity of his people. He preached freedom from oppression so that everyone might benefit from the resources that God gave to be shared by all, rather than a small minority that hoards everything and uses political, social and religious structures to protect their privileges and oppress the poor.

This reality, which motivated Romero to bring the light of the Gospel to the structures of sin, still needs committed and courageous workers to bring the light of Christ to the new realities of poverty and injustice that threaten so many people today. Our Franciscan charism is a hopeful response, when we Franciscans leave our comfort zones and enter into the reality of those who suffer, as Pope Francis reminds us "to touch the wounds of Christ".

Our Franciscan JPIC Formation Experience will help the friars to glimpse new ways of living that are mindful of protecting and promoting the dignity of the human person by countering the violence we find in our hearts, in the Church, and in our streets. This formation encounter seeks to awaken in the student friars an awareness of the urgent need to fully embrace and live the Gospel in the realities of poverty that surround us, seeking to build pastoral alternatives of justice, peace and human dignity.

Together we will study, meditate, pray, and imitate the actions of Christ. The social teaching from the Church in Latin America will be pondered in the light of the Holy Spirit, prayed reflectively, and realized in commitments of life that can be lived daily. Inspired by the motto of Romero, we seek to “Feel with the Church”, the People of God, who suffer poverty, injustice, violence and oppression in their many forms today.