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Making pilgrimages is an ancient tradition in the Church. People would often travel great distances in harsh conditions to renowned shrines or places where martyrs died for the faith.

Last month, I had the opportunity to make a 10-day pilgrimage to the shrines of the 20th-century martyrs in Guatemala and El Salvador. Together with 20 priests and deacons, guided by five Maryknoll missioners, our pilgrimage took us

• to the chapel where Arch-bishop Oscar Romero was gunned down while celebrating Mass;

• to the site where four American women - Sister Ita Ford, MM; Sister Maura Clark, MM; Sister Dorothy Kazel, OSU; and lay missioner Jean Donovan - were tortured, raped and murdered on a desolate dirt road;

• to the site where six Jesuits together with their housekeeper and her daughter were brutally dragged from their sleep and murdered;

• to the site where Rev. Stanley Rother was beaten and shot in his rectory;

• to the garage where Bishop Juan Gerardi was bludgeoned to death.

All died because they had fought for the well-being of their people, especially the poor and powerless. They fought for their people and they died with their people.

Holy ground
As we visited each site, we prayed and sang. We recalled, in song, that we stood on holy ground, "For the Lord is here and where He is, is holy." The blood of the martyrs made the ground holy; the faith of the martyrs made it holy.

We heard from survivors like Sister Theresa Alexander, MM, who should have been with the four martyred women but had taken an earlier flight back to San Salvador...Monsignor Ricar-do Urioste, a close friend and aide to Archbishop Romero... present-day missioners like Revs. Paul Schindlar and Greg Schaeffer...Chorna, a Mayan woman whose husband was abducted and killed.

Their stories brought to life the stories of the faith of the martyrs. Each of these people had lived through the horrors of the civil wars and could have been martyred!

We heard of the 250,000 people tortured and killed in the civil war in Guatemala and the 70,000 in El Salvador. The brutality was beyond belief - frequently government-endorsed. The slaughter of impoverished Mayans was nothing less than genocide. Entire villages were systematically wiped out - young and old gunned down for no reason other than wanting to improve their lives.

Willing sacrifice
It would have been easy to focus solely on the brutality. There was, however, another side to the story: immense faith and love. The martyrs willingly gave their lives for the people to whom they ministered. They knew the dangers they faced, and yet they would not abandon their struggle for the poor and impoverished people.

Rev. Stanley Rother, back home in Oklahoma, knew he was on the death-list in Guatemala, yet he willingly returned to Santiago Atitlan. He commented that he knew of other missioners who had fled when faced with grave danger.

When they returned after the danger subsided, their people asked where they had been when they were needed. Father Rother said a pastor could not abandon his people. He was soon murdered.

Full knowledge
Lay missioner Jean Donovan had been asked why she remained in El Salvador, knowing the dangers she faced. She wrote in response, "Several times I have decided to leave El Salvador. I almost could except for the children, the poor bruised victims of this insanity. Who would care for them?"

The martyrs were not naïve. Father Rother had told others that he knew he would be killed, but he would not allow his killers to take him out to be tortured. He would fight - and, indeed, he did.

The martyrs certainly feared for their lives. They neither wanted nor sought martyrdom. They did not allow their fears, however, to overcome their faith and commitment to their people. That is the true lesson of the pilgrimage. Faith trumped fear. The Gospel of Jesus trumped evil.

We also met with lay missioners, both American and local. They run programs as diverse as HIV/AIDS care and education, nutritional projects, youth projects, confronting street gangs, agriculture co-ops and health clinics. These missioners and their ministries, all based on the Gospel of Jesus and Catholic teaching, offer a powerful witness to the Gospel.

An example of the impact of these projects is Casa Gerardi, named after the martyred auxiliary bishop of Guatemala City. This project works to get kids out of gangs and off the streets of the slums of Guatemala City. While the gangs in many ways still dominate the neighborhood, even they let it be known that the staff and those being served by Casa Gerardi are not to be harmed.

Troy native
One of the leaders of the trip was Rev. John Spain, a Maryknoll missioner and native of Troy, my hometown. His sister is Mary Holt, a secretary in the Albany diocesan chancery. He and I were able to reminisce, but what was most striking was the joy and excitement he exuded when talking of his nearly 40 years in the missions of Central America.

His love and commitment to the people of El Salvador, where he now serves, were evident in his smile and laughter. His commitment to the well-being of the people, spiritually and otherwise, was equally clear when he spoke of the brutality of the civil war of the 1980s and the atrocities inflicted on the people. All the Maryknoll priests, religious and lay missioners we met exhibited that same passion and devotion.

Archbishop Romero, not long before being murdered, said in a homily: "Of those who are condemned it will be said, 'They could have done good and did not.'" This pilgrimage retreat to Guatemala and El Salvador was a powerful reminder of faith.

The martyrs of the late 20th century and the missioners today, in the midst of great danger and tremendous challenges, show us the power of people living out the Gospel message.

We saw the power of evil people committing atrocious acts, but even greater signs of the power of people of faith doing good and making a difference.

If a pilgrimage is meant to inspire and challenge the pilgrim in his or her life of faith, this pilgrimage to Guatemala and El Salvador fulfilled that intent!

(Father Donlon is judicial vicar for the diocesan Office of Canonical Services.)

(02/18/10) [[In-content Ad]]

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