The Diocese of Cleveland Mission Office and COAR (Community of Oscar Arnulfo Romero) Peace Mission celebrated the martyrdom and legacy of St. Oscar Romero on his feast day, March 24, in a prayer service hosted by St. Barnabas Parish in Northfield.
Father James Kulway, St. Barnabas pastor, welcomed the group and expressed his appreciation for the work of COAR, the Mission Office and St. Romero.
Susan Dinehart, COAR Peace Mission programs director, also greeted attendees and offered thanks to those who helped organize the prayer service, which takes place annually on or near St. Romero’s feast day.
(See photo gallery above.)
Father Jeffrey Lindholm, St. Barnabas parochial vicar, recalled his time at the diocesan mission in El Salvador. “I was blessed to spend three months there,” he said, noting how the faith and friendliness of the Salvadoran people touched his heart, leaving a lasting memory. “I had an emotional prayer experience at St. Romero’s tomb,” he said.
Although Bishop Edward Malesic was unable to attend, he shared a reflection that was distributed at the service. The bishop recalled one moving event during one of his visits to the mission in El Salvador, when he was celebrating Mass at the altar where St. Romero died.
“As I prepared the gifts, a breeze from an open door blew the unconsecrated host off the altar onto the very floor where Romero’s blood had been spilled. The deacon beside me quickly retrieved the bread and placed it back on the altar, and we continued the Mass,” the bishop said.
“Later, we reflected on what had happened. The host I consecrated had touched the place where Oscar Romero shed his blood. The blood of Christ we received from the altar that day had mingled – even if only symbolically – with the blood of a man who died brining Christ’s love to his people.”
In the Gospel reading at the prayer service, Jesus said to “love one another as I love you,” adding that “No one has greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Father Lindholm said St. Romero, who was killed on March 24, 1980 while celebrating Mass, did that. But he also used his position as a priest and archbishop of San Salvador to fight for the oppressed and to speak out against injustice.
“We all have a microphone,” Father Lindholm said. “We’re charged to bring others here (to the Church). When we are dismissed from Mass, we are told to go in peace to bring others here, where we find our humanity joined with his divinity.”
Father Steve Vellenga, director of the diocesan Mission Office and pastor of St. Mary Parish in Painesville, served at the diocesan mission in El Salvador and has fond memories of his seven years there. He presented attendees with a St. Romero prayer card that included a third-degree relic, a tiny piece of cloth that touched the shirt St. Romero was wearing when he was killed.
A social followed the prayer service.