Book Review: Archbishop Oscar Romero: A Shepherd’s Diary

Archbishop Oscar Romero: A Shepherd’s Diary

Publisher: St. Anthony Messenger Press & Novalis, hardcover, 542 pages, including: Foreword, Introduction, A Note From the Translator, Maps, The Diary, Afterword, Glossary, and Index

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

Author(s)

Oscar Arnulfo Romero, who was installed as archbishop of San Salvador on February 22, 1978 and assassinated while celebrating mass on March 24, 1980, depended upon three other people, in particular, who were instrumental in publishing his diary. This diary is based on several recorded tapes, covering only the period from March 31, 1978, to March 20, 1980—four days before he was murdered. The three other people contributing to this volume are: Irene B. Hodgson, who translated the diary into English, and at the time of the diary’s publication was associate professor of Spanish at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. She has also translated the works of liberation theologians, including Jon Sobrino and Enrique Dussel, and Chilean poet Javier Campos. She has travelled extensively in Central and South America. Thomas E. Quigley, who wrote the Foreword of this volume, and at the time of the diary’s publication, served on the U.S. Catholic Conference for Latin American Affairs. James R. Brockman, a Jesuit, who wrote the Introduction of this volume, and was the author of Romero: A Life, and was editor-translator of Romero’s The Violence of Love. 

Brief Highlights from the diary

Already in his April 3, 1978 diary entry, Archbishop Romero was, in his view, falsely accused by other bishops of: subversive, violent preaching; which provoked violence among the peasants against the abuses of the authorities. Already, too, in his April 20, 1978 diary entry, a Dr. Salcedo had written some articles against Romero, which were paid advertisements. Romero suspected that they were written on behalf of the government and/or the economically powerful. 

The diary contains a lot of repetition concerning Romero’s routine schedule and duties as the archbishop. For example, there are many diary entries about: administrative issues, personnel issues, visits to parishes where he confirmed parishioners, met with priests, nuns and laity, officiated at funerals, short summaries of several of his sermons preached, visits and meetings at seminaries, visits and meetings with national and international ecclesiastical leaders, government leaders, and journalists, mention of his radio talks and interviews, his trips to Rome and highlights of his time there, comments about the tension between various political groups and the El Salvadoran government, celebrations of various feast days, his concern for and contribution to one or more pastoral letters concerning faith, the church and politics, you get the idea. 

In some respects, Romero was a very conservative Roman Catholic. For example, in his June 29, 1978 diary entry, he writes: “Rome is the home of everyone who has faith and a true sense of Church. Rome is the homeland for all Christians (p. 77).” This would likely be regarded by many non Roman Catholic Christians as extremely incorrect, and even offensive! 

On the other hand, Romero was also a strong advocate for Christian base communities, social justice and human rights, and liberation theology. For example, in his May 29, 1979 diary entry, he states: “It is spiritually filling to see the Church decide to identify with the people and to confront—or be forced to confront—governments that do not understand the people. The necessity of choosing, as Puebla advised, the option for the poor is a recognized fact and is gaining ground in a Church that is trying truly to be the Church of Jesus Christ (p. 242).”

In his June 1, 1979 diary entry, Romero mentions that he had “received telephone calls threatening me with death and a card with the swastika of the UGB (a rightist terrorist group), the White Warrior Union...(p. 245).” They threatened to kill him if he continued to preach sermons advocating for the poor and oppressed, human rights, and social justice. He responded by saying that in good conscience, he could not remain silent about the increasing injustices and violence in El Salvador. 

As a prophetic voice Romero spoke out against the growing evils in his nation. The following July 7, 1979 diary entry is a moving example of his pastoral compassion and prophetic commitment. “At my residence a suffering mother was waiting for me, along with her son’s wife, to tell me that her son, a fifth-year medical student, has disappeared. ...I understood the depth of her pain and promised to do everything I could. Tomorrow in the Mass I will mention this new case of injustice (p. 280).” 

In Romero’s February 2, 1980 diary entry, he provides a short summary of the speech he gave on the occasion of receiving an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Louvain, Belgium. “In summary I talked about what faith can do in the area of politics, the task of our archdiocese in its commitment to the country and, in the second part, how our faith becomes enormous, the mysteries become deeper through these same political realities when we are conscious of the preferential option for the poor (p. 473).” 

Romero mentions that his sermons were getting increasingly longer, and he sees this trend as his need to be an advocate for the poor of his country. In his February 17, 1980 diary entry he states: “The homily lasted for an hour and forty-five minutes. I talked about...Jesus Christ, who committed himself to the poor. I illuminated the reality of the country to condemn the selfishness of the rich who insist on maintaining their privilege....(p.491).”

With the growing violence and hardening of positions of the government, the political right groups and political left groups, Romero offered that the church be a mediator between the various groups to bring about an end to the violence and a just, peaceful country. Tragically, the violence grew worse. In Romero’s March 16, 1980 diary entry he states: “Today I highlighted the repression, which has not ended but, instead, is getting worse. It is causing great pain and the Church must denounce it (p. 528).” In short, in the face of evil, oppression and injustice, Archbishop Romero believed that it was necessary for spiritual leaders to speak the truth to power, as did Jesus, and the biblical prophets of old.

On March 24, 1980, Archbishop Romero was assassinated while celebrating a memorial Mass at the Divine Providence Hospital. 

This is an important volume to learn something of the faith, leadership role, and personality of Archbishop Romero, even though it is rather tedious to read.