Veteran’s Day

On Veteran’s Day I am reminded of my required time in the military.  War threatened at the time, but we were not yet engaged in open battle.  As I look back, I consider my ineptness as comic.

But I also remember my grandmother’s brother, Tim Walsh.  He was an outstanding student and the Franciscans considered him an outstanding prospect.  They sent him to England to study for the priesthood.  He was given the religious name of Jerome.  After he was ordained, he volunteered to serve as a chaplain for Irish troops in World War I.  He went back to the priory in England with PTSD.  I did some research on him and discovered that Irish chaplains went to the front lines. 

He died in the United States as a relatively young man with my grandmother in attendance.

 War, even with honor and glory, is horrible.  It's the innocent who pay the price.

Gustavo Gutierrez – Liberation Theology

 

One of the greatest theologians of contemporary times, Gustavo Gutierrez, O.P., recently passed away on October 22, 2024 in Lima, Peru. His theology was revolutionary in more ways than one. 

His method was from the ground up.  He advocated for ‘comunidades de base,’ that is, communities relating their situation to Scripture.  He saw this as a way of liberation, as the Jews from Pharaoh’s domination.

His guide was the theology of the brother of Jesus of Nazareth, James the Just.  James prefaced ‘preferential option for the poor’ and the need to act for social justice. 

Weekly protest for immigrant rights in front of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office (ICE) in Milwaukee

A Theology of Liberation, by Gustavo Gutierrez, O.P., 1973. (Six references to the Epistle of James)

The Birth of Christianity, by John Dominic Crossan, 1998.

Zealot:  the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth, by Reza Aslan, 2013.

Epistle of James, The New American Bible.