Agents of Change - Jesuits and Liberation Theology

The people and the revolution that sent tremors through the United States and the Vatican:

The 1960s sparked revolutionary changes that swept the secular and religious world. At the forefront of the battle for a new – better – world was the most powerful Catholic Order.

Progressive Jesuit priests started a movement that would turn the archaic religious institution into the leading force for change, and in the process put them at odds with the United States.

These Agents of Change saw the need to do away with antiquated political and banking systems, with murderous military-industrial complexes, and flawed educational systems.

They became the biggest threat to U.S. interests...

Inspiration and Historical Context:
http://www.spywriter.com/aoc/index.html



SpyWriter Jack King: Agents of Change,

Romero and El Salvador, 30 years later

In a society disfigured by violence, massive emigration, inequality and poverty, and the social and political irresponsibility of its leaders, Oscar Romero is still a hugely significant figure. Although the historic situation of the country is not what it was thirty years ago, when he began his ministry as archbishop, his message has no lost its relevance. At that time, the country was entering a period of bloody and cruel civil war; now, social violence leaves more wounded and dead than the incipient conflict did then.

Rodolfo Cardenal, SJ.

The most serious threat to U.S. interests

"All through the
1980s and early 90s [U.S. army intelligence officers] recognized that
‘the most serious threat to U.S. interests was not secular
Marxist-Leninism or organized labor but liberation theology."

Author Peter Hallward in his book: Damning the Flood.



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The Spiral of Violence is a classic for liberation theology aficionados. Author, Archbishop Dom Helder Camara, nicknamed "Red Bishop" said:

“When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food they call me a communist.”

“The greatest problem of the Church is not a lack of priests, rather the hunger faced by the people.”

Oscar Romero

An interesting website about the assassinated Bishop Oscar Romero.

Bishop Romero died because he spoke out:

Brothers, you come from our own people. You are killing your own brother peasants when any human order to kill must be subordinate to the law of God which says, "Thou shalt not kill." No soldier is obliged to obey an order contrary to the law of God. No one has to obey an immoral law. It is high time you recovered your consciences and obeyed your consciences rather than a sinful order. The church, the defender of the rights of God, of the law of God, of human dignity, of the person, cannot remain silent before such an abomination. We want the government to face the fact that reforms are valueless if they are to be carried out at the cost of so much blood. In the name of God, in the name of this suffering people whose cries rise to heaven more loudly each day, I implore you, I beg you, I order you in the name of God: stop the repression. Archbishop Oscar Romero to the troops.

Read Bishop Romero’s last sermon in full.

Red Bishop

Today is the birthday (b. 1909) of one of the leading figures in Liberation Theology and social justice.

Dom Hélder Pessoa Câmara was a catholic archbishop in Brazil. Nicknamed: "Red Bishop".

He was instrumental in delineating the course of Liberation Theology, a premise for my latest novel.

To cut to the chase let me post some quotes from the colorful Dom Hélder Pessoa Câmara:

“When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food they call me a communist.”

“I will never carry a weapon and will never kill anyone. But I am ready to give life for the poor.”

“The greatest problem of the Church is not a lack of priests, rather the hunger faced by the people.”

Dom Hélder Pessoa Câmara

Today marks the anniversary of the death of one of the most significant figures in Liberation Theology and social justice.

Dom Hélder Pessoa Câmara was a catholic archbishop in Brazil.

He was instrumental in delineating the course of Liberation Theology, a premise for my latest novel.

To cut to the chase let me post some quotes from the colorful Dom Hélder Pessoa Câmara:

"When I give food to the poor the call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food they call me a communist."

"I will never carry a weapon and will never kill anyone. But I am ready to give life for the poor."

"The greatest problem of the Church is not a lack of priests, rather the hunger faced by the people."