TRUE PEACE

Is more than the absence of violence.

I’ve been piecing my way through a bio of Oscar Romero. Unbelievably, almost painfully detailed. That’s why I’m tending to read topic lines on paragraphs. Frankly I’ve learned more than I ever needed to know about the rift between the archbishop (maybe one quarter his making, three quarters the others) most of his bishops, the papal nuncio and a few of the clergy. Given the level of opposition to just about everything and the backbiting the man had a patience of a saint. Perhaps a little too patient. However, I believe canon law frowns on introducing an obstinate subordinate to the old Missouri soup bone when he goes behind your back for the umpteenth time.




The church was supposed to stay traditional, all this talk of justice and fairness and access to land and the right to organize and so on is just disrupting everything. We’re supposed to preach peace and the joys of the hereafter.



I’m reminded of an old saying. I’m not sure who said it first. “Peace is more than the absence of conflict.” Too true especially when the so called peace is being imposed from above at the point of a gun, with check points, midnight arrests, bombs, mortars, lies, deceit, and slander.



No, I’m still not much of a believer but I do believe that the peasant church in Latin America has a lot to teach us Norte Americanos. Especially for those who are trying to stem the slide of most of the American church into total irrelevance, Frankly, I’m in the let it crash and burn corner. Maybe when to dust settles something can be salvaged from the wreck. And maybe we’ll quit pretending that corporations are not only people but they go to church. Phooey.