News 19 -- Sept. 8, 1998

“Bishop Gerardi had set the stage for his own death, without perhaps realizing it. The TRUTH was out. Nothing else mattered. The seeds of rebuilding a new generation were planted. Thanks be to God! Two days later, Sunday, April 26th at 10:30 in the evening, Mons.Gerardi was assassinated in front of the parish rectory as he returned from a visit with his family.”

[In some of his letters Larry used the word womyn as his way of expressing the equality of women and men.
campo = farm field or farm region. Campesino(a) = peasant farmer]

Newsletter # 19

Sept. 8th, 1998
Guatemala

Dear Friends,

How to put thoughts and feelings together in this letter to you? In the wake of the tragic assassination of Bishop Juan José Gerardi Conedera, auxiliary Bishop of Guatemala, our diocese of El Quiché held its second catechetical assembly from the 1st through the 4th of September in Chichicastenango, El Quiché.

Moved by the death and resurrection of Bishop Gerardi, over 200 laymen,womyn, sisters and priests united with our bishop Julio Cabrera to initiate the work of updating our 'pastoral plan' for the next five years (1999 2003).

I, personally, go nuts at most meetings, especially when they last more than two to three hours. FOUR DAYS DIOS MIO!!! Give me the road, the Catholic Worker newspaper in my back pocket and the Spirit to guide me. That's simplistic, I know.

Planning, scheduling and filling the "agenda" a year in advance comes with our "modern times," I guess. However, breaking through all this, we see a people, a Church on the move; dynamic and participatory, composed largely of the indigenous Mayan community of Guatemala.

Five hundred years under the sword has not dampened the spirit or soul of our people. On the contrary, the signs of the times are not read with despair or anxiety. They are read calmly, clearly and without apprehension. The Indigenous community based in years of oppression, exploitation, forced and planned extermination of whole 'peoples' is moving forward.

The detailed staging of Bishop Gerardi's death by the powers that be is read for exactly what it is: the elimination and degradation of the government's and military's 'greatest enemy,' the Catholic Church. "When will they ever learn?"

We have had the opportunity since the death of Juan Gerardi on the 26th of April to become acquainted with his life, his works, his unconditional love for his people. Most impressive about him for me was his simplicity. Riding a horse or mule up the mountainside, sleeping on the church benches in the small chapels of the villages, listening and breathing in the long history and incredible sufferings of his people.

Mons. Gerardi announced the Good News and denounced every form of violence against his people. He personally felt most content when the four volumes of testimonies compiled through the project REMHI (Recuperacion de la Memoria Historica) were completed -- a work of invaluable worth, collected testimonies by Catechists, womyn and men, sisters and priests trained in the REMHI program under the direction of Bishop Gerardi. The work is an analysis of the war torn years.


Just what did take place?
When and where?
Who was responsible?
What were the effects of the violence?
What was done to confront the violence in your locale?
What can be done to prevent the reoccurrence of such suffering?

The REMHI account places before the mind's eye the most horrendous of human atrocities. It is titled GUATEMALA: Nunca Mas (Never Again) -- the hoped for promise that all who read and reflect this history will commit themselves to building a new Guatemala where our children can live in peace, free of the tragic events of the past.

"My hour has not yet come,” Jesus told his mother at Cana and on various occasions afterwards. It was not 'the hour' to begin the work which would eventually lead to his death.

It is said that Bishop Gerardi gave thanks as the project REMHI drew to the close of its first phase. Thanks that during those first three and a half years of collecting testimonies, no violence had occurred against members of the REMHI program. Bishop Gerardi recognized this as the Spirit's presence within this project.

And when Bishop Gerardi presented the four volumes of testimonies to the people of Guatemala in the Cathedral of Guatemala City, he expressed thanks to God that no serious complication had taken place to prevent the completion of these four volumes of written testimonies.

He was full of joy and appreciation as he celebrated the mass with his fellow bishops and people gathered from the far-reaching areas of Guatemala along with internationals representing countries the world over on April 24th 1998. Bishop Gerardi had lived for this moment. Complete was a history of the tragic sufferings of the Guatemalan people, offered now for the entire world to know the truth behind these horrendous events.

Bishop Gerardi had set the stage for his own death, without perhaps realizing it. The TRUTH was out. Nothing else mattered. The seeds of rebuilding a new generation were planted. Thanks be to God! Two days later, Sunday, April 26th at 10:30 in the evening, Mons.Gerardi was assassinated in front of the parish rectory as he returned from a visit with his family.

In four days of intense work, over 200 men and womyn, young and old ground out a renewed and animated procedure of work for the next five years.

Not only a martyr added to the list of Guatemala's martyrs, but a Bishop, a Guatemalan Bishop and voice for the most oppressed, now included on the list. Juan Gerardi had been Bishop of El Quiché,our own diocese, from 1974 to 1980. Then he was silenced and expelled from Guatemala in the flow of his people's own blood.

What more at this time could serve as a stimulus than to present an alliance (alianza), a commitment, a diocesan plan signed in'blood,' to be put into action over the next five years?

The priorities that head this Pastoral Plan are:

Reconciliation
Inculturation
The role of womyn in Society, the church, the community.
Small Base Communities
Youth
Projects to help eliminate all forms of Poverty and Oppression
Health and Ecology
Natural Medicine and Preservation of all Nature.

We understand this list is only a list if not implemented within our local communities and churches.

On the first Sunday of this month of September, I arrived in a small community called Efrata. I was informed at once that a womyn had died three days before. A mother of 10 children died on her way to the small county hospital.

It is most likely that Margarita had received no periodic checkups over the months of her pregnancy. That is costly for a family as poor as they and as long as she could get around, she would have no reason to see a doctor.

Shortly after the Mass had begun, a group of people came up the hill in front of the church. My eyes caught the scene. A man with an expressionless face and tears in his eyes walked up the aisle followed by six small children and settled themselves in the first pew.

What a sight. Even the smallest of the children had grasped the reality and sat motionless side by side. Another family member carried the newly born daughter up the aisle to join the others.

The silence was broken when the congregation began singing 'What joy I felt when they said to me, come up with us to the house of our God.' This was followed by 'Glory to God in the Highest.'

Yesterday, I sat in a group of men and womyn who were reflecting upon their Mayan culture hoping to renew within themselves the rich values of their ancestors. Our group alone was composed of persons who spoke six distinct languages. Most could speak at least some Spanish and thus communicated through this means.

What a thirst to rediscover their past. A past destroyed over the last 500 years, yet struggling to keep alive while resisting every evil force imaginable. Today this same struggle continues by the Mayan community across Guatemala on into Mexico. Our diocese of El Quiché, encouraged by the life and work of Mons. Julio Cabrera, insists that the work of Inculturation bringing the Mayan culture in all its richness into Christianity as an integral part of Jesus' message -- proceed in all earnestness.

As I sat within the group yesterday, it dawned on me what day it was, September 24th. September 24th, 1968, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Often I do not remember birth dates of my own family and friends but September 24th seems to have embedded deeply. Entering the Federal Building and carrying out loads of 1 A draft files to burn with Napalm has left a birth mark. The people and events surrounding those war torn years are permanently placed within me. What influential years! Graced years. Thanks be to God. Too bad something has not been planned for the year 2000 to bring those of us of the 'sixties' together again. Or has there been?

I'm going to close. There's a lot covered in this small space, I know. Perhaps, too much. For sure, the history of Guatemala will be interpreted in many ways for this period of time. However, for Guatemalans and people across the globe, the impact of Mons. Juan José Gerardi Conedera, his life, death and martyrdom has already risen high in GLORY.

Adios,

Lorenzo

(Received and prepared for mailing October 30, 1998/ mlp)