374 - The Church Is All of You: Thoughts of Archbishop Oscar Romero

The Church Is All of You:
Thoughts of Archbishop Oscar Romero
By James R. Brockman, S.J.
Minneapolis, Winston Press. 1984. 150 pp. $6.95.

Letting Oscar Romero, the late Archbishop of San Salvador, speak for himself through homilies, letters, and interviews is an excellent idea. We grow surer of his warmth, joy, courage, and generosity with each selection translated and pieced together by James Brockman. Sadly, it becomes

375 - The Church Is All of You: Thoughts of Archbishop Oscar Romero

more certain with every page of this powerful little book that the Archbishop's honesty, holy daring, and prophetic voice seal a death warrant. "Let's be quite clear,'" Romero urged, "that if we are being asked to collaborate with a pseudo peace, a false order, based on repression and fear, we must recall that the only order and the only peace that God wants is one based on truth and justice. We will follow God's order, not men's."

The effect of quotations like this is often so stunning that we are grateful for Henri Nouwnen's debriefing which comprises the Foreword to this book. Among other things, Nouwen asks us as Americans to consider our complicity in the agony of Salvador "where we participate willingly or unwillingly, knowingly or unknowingly in the violence and destruction 'suffered by [these people]." His words are as sobering and direct as those of the Archbishop.

The backdrop of this book is a terrifying nightmare of torture and repression, but the response evoked is one of gratitude for the fidelity of Romero and the conviction that the Gospel will be victorious against all odds in Salvador.

Doris Donnelly
St. John's University
New York City.